


This Is Not What I Came for (It's Better)

by GeekLover



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: 2012 Summer Olympics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Olympics, Alternate Universe - Sports, Anal Sex, Angst, Banter, Dirty Talk, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, First Time, Fluff, M/M, Merlin Summer Olympics, Oral Sex, Romance, Sexual Tension, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 09:36:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 55,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7929706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeekLover/pseuds/GeekLover
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Great Britain's men's gymnastics team are looking to make history. The team is ready to come together to work together to win gold, except two members can't get along. When Merlin & Arthur get caught on camera fighting like idiots, Gaius comes up with a solution to knock some sense into them. Merlin and Arthur have to share a room and decide if what they have in common outweighs their major differences. Secrets get revealed as attraction blooms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the merlin_olympics mod for running this fest and for her tremendous patience.
> 
> I've done some research on gymnastics, but I'm no expert by any means. I made a lot of this up as I went along. 
> 
> Kudos are loved but comments would also be really appreciated, if you can! :)

_One, two, three…_

Before Arthur Pendragon could count to four in his head, that godawful _snick, snick, snick_ sound invaded his consciousness. He turned and glared at Merlin Emrys. He was incessantly clicking his fingernails together.

It was the tenth time in five minutes he’d had to stare down the boy for some perceived offense that set Arthur’s teeth on edge. What aggravated Arthur, even more, was that Merlin seemed completely unaware of his affect on Arthur.

They were in the elevator of the Olympic Village with their fellow members of the gymnastics team. Arthur tried to remind himself they would be in their rooms at any minute. He wasn’t about to lose his cool now.

Arthur prided himself on being in control of his emotions at all times, but there was just something about the gangly, wide-eyed brunette that just got under his skin.

His father, Uther, had taught him at an early age that to be a Pendragon one must be strong, proud, and comporting themselves with dignity at all times. So that is what Arthur tried to do. No matter what. 

Even when he wanted to scream and cry watching other kids with their mothers and him with his au pair of the moment. Even when he wanted to shout at his father to look at him or pay him the slightest bit of attention. Even when his schoolmates would tease him cruelly, he wouldn’t let them see how deep down he was affected by their words, though the cutting remarks about his mother shook him to the core.

_Everyone knows you’re a weirdo! How do you kill your mum coming out of her?_

When that happened he did the routine he normally did when something threatened to crack his cold veneer - he breathed in and out slowly and counted to ten. 

He tried to tough it out, but when the bullying became too extreme Arthur informed his Headmaster at Albion Academy who then alerted Uther about the taunting about Arthur’s mother Ygraine. Uther didn’t even flinch, which surprised Arthur. The one subject that was able to even slightly get a rise out of Uther was anything to do with Ygraine. But Uther only sighed slightly, saying nothing to Arthur. 

The next day he pulled Arthur out of the prestigious primary school referring to it as a “failed experiment.” But he didn’t leave it at that. Uther had Arthur’s teacher fired for not being able to control her students. Arthur felt tremendously guilty about that. Uther chose to have Arthur home schooled from that point on. After that, Arthur chose to fight his battles on his own.

Arthur’s strength and poise had served him well throughout his life, especially with his gymnastics career. He had a natural talent for it. His body became a fine instrument that he knew how to wield in any way he wanted. Whether using his muscles to command complete control of the rings, swiveling his hips to perfection on the pommel horse, or soaring through the air on vault, twisting perfectly, and landing with precision, it brought him a sense of peace and joy he’d never experienced before. As a bonus, doing well in gymnastics was the only thing that bonded Arthur to his father. Though bonded wasn’t exactly the right term, the way Uther took over and micromanaged Arthur’s career.

And now here he was: World Champion and was the favorite to win the gold at the Olympics on home soil. To top it off, he was leading a team many called one of the greatest group of gymnasts the UK had ever assembled. It was everything he’d worked so hard for. 

This was where all of his focus should be - on winning. But it wasn’t. After all the years of strength and poise and never losing his cool, why he was letting one boy get under his skin he couldn’t fathom. Ignoring Merlin, counting to ten, taking deep breaths - nothing was calming this pit in the bottom of his stomach.

He tried to look ahead, but something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He redirected his attention back to Merlin, who was swinging his arms and just bouncing absently on the balls of his feet. Arthur let out a low growl. He was in trouble.

 

~*~

 

Merlin was sure there was never a time in his life where he was filled with so many conflicting emotions - pride, nervousness, elation, fear, confusion. He was having trouble containing all of his limbs, just a bundle of raw nerves ready to snap. He was sure that if someone touched him he would take flight. 

It seemed so surreal to be in the Olympic Village, a few days away from participating in his first Olympics. People had told him so often that his dream was ridiculous and that he would never make it happen, that he had begun to doubt himself. But his mother, Hunith, refused to let him give up and sacrificed so much to help him. 

He was just an alternate at the World Championships, but now he was a member of Great Britain’s gymnastics team. He couldn't have asked for anything more. There was still a part of him that was petrified that they would realize their mistake at any moment and boot him off the team. His fears were definitely unfounded. The team - Gwaine, Leon, and Lance - had been incredibly friendly and welcoming. Everyone had been great. Well...almost everyone. He looked to his right and noticed Arthur glaring at him. When Arthur noticed Merlin watching him, he coolly turned his gaze away from him. 

Merlin honestly didn’t understand why Arthur was acting this way. It was the complete opposite to how Arthur had been when they had first met. 

While Merlin would never say that he idolized Arthur as an avid fan of gymnastics he devoured as much footage of the greats as he could. He had watched footage of Arthur, especially his World Championship win a couple of years back. Arthur was just eighteen and the first British man to ever win the competition. That's when his career really skyrocketed and Merlin had been keeping up with his progress ever since. 

So, understandably, Merlin was more than a little nervous when it came time to meet “the savior of British gymnastics” as the press had ostentatiously taken to calling Arthur. Merlin had narrowly managed to join the World Championship team as an alternate, after one of the previous alternates, Valiant, injured his leg during practice. His ankle was broken and Merlin was chosen to replace him. 

Even though he insisted it wasn’t necessary, his Uncle Gaius - the team’s head coach as well as Arthur’s personal coach - held a small get together at his house to welcome Merlin to the team. Calling it a party would be an incredibly loose interpretation of the word. Gaius wasn’t much of a cook, so the food consisted solely of fish and chips and beer. Merlin was a stammering, nervous wreck. But everyone quickly made him feel at ease. Especially Lancelot Du lac. Merlin and Lancelot easily became fast friends. 

Arthur was fashionably late. He had shaken Merlin’s hand and been nothing but polite but didn’t say very much to Merlin, or to anyone really. After everyone else had gone home, Arthur stuck around to chat with Gaius for a little while. Soon enough, Gaius begged off to go to sleep. Arthur and Merlin were awkwardly left alone. 

Quickly grabbing his jacket, Arthur seemed ready to say a hasty goodbye. Desperate to keep Arthur around a little bit longer, Merlin started babbling. Somehow, Merlin wasn’t sure how he’d jumped to from talking about gymnastics to football. To his surprise, Arthur became more animated and involved in the conversation. It was probably an odd assumption, but Merlin didn’t think Arthur would be a football fan.

They ended up spending an hour talking about their favorite football players and some of the excellent footie matches they’d attended. Arthur admitted that if he wasn’t a gymnast, he would want to be a football player. Arthur looked a little bashful when he said that he had to leave because his father gave him a curfew during any major competitions.

After that first great night, Arthur and Merlin slowly started to develop a friendship. They mainly talked about gymnastics and football, but Merlin always considered it quite an achievement the times he was able to make Arthur laugh. Merlin wouldn’t admit it to anyone, he could barely admit it to himself, but he started to develop quite a crush on Arthur.

He was sure he was imagining it, but he could swear there were times that Arthur would flirt with him. Though having limited experience with relationships (his only “girlfriend” being his next door neighbor Freya when they were both twelve and that had only lasted for two weeks before Merlin concluded girls perhaps weren’t for him) Merlin was sure he was just misreading things.

It all changed after they won the World Championship. They had all gone to a bar to celebrate. Merlin wasn’t sure if it was the high of winning or that he’d completely lost his marbles - he definitely couldn’t say it was due to inebriation, since he’d only had one drink and even he wasn’t that much of a lightweight - but he made a snap decision to try and finally ask Arthur if he might be interested in having dinner with him. Unfortunately, he had trouble connecting with Arthur all night. 

Gwaine had managed to drag Merlin and to everyone’s astonishment even Arthur into playing a ludicrous drinking game that involved darts and naming all of the Bond villains. Like a lot of things that involved Gwaine, it was simultaneously dumb, complicated, and fun. 

Not surprisingly, everyone was quite drunk when the night was over. Everyone got cab rides home, and as they were going in the same direction, Merlin and Arthur shared one. There wasn’t a lot of talking that went on during the short trip. Merlin was trying to psych himself to ask Arthur out while trying to quiet down the voice that kept telling him he was an idiot to even think of doing this and would get shot down brutally. 

In the end, he compromised slightly and simply asked Arthur if he could call him tomorrow. Arthur told him “he’d like that.” Merlin practically skipped to his front door.

When he called Arthur the next day, there was no answer. Arthur never returned his messages. Unfortunately, the next time he saw Arthur was months later before the Olympic Trials. Merlin was anxious to find out why Arthur never got in touch with him. When he finally saw Arthur again, Merlin had to fight the gasp that almost escaped him. Gone were the looks of gentle teasing and, Merlin was certain he hadn’t imagined it, fondness. Now Arthur’s blue eyes pierced through him with a look of such coldness and disgust. When Merlin attempted to say something, Arthur just walked away. 

It was like that every time from then on. Merlin tried to put it out of his mind and concentrate on his routines, and for the most part, it worked - he performed and got the highest marks of his career. But Arthur’s rejection still hurt terribly, especially since he had no idea why.

 

~*~

 

 _…Four, five..._ Arthur stopped counting when he noticed that Merlin had stopped his interminable bouncing. He let out a soft exhale that was cut short when Merlin started snapping his fingers and whistling. Unbelievable, Arthur thought irritably. 

Finally, he had enough and turned once again to Merlin. “Could you stop that?” It was more a command than a question.

Merlin practically jumped out of his skin. He turned and stared at Arthur dumbly. “Are you talking to me?

“No, I’m talking to the other idiot constantly fidgeting like a restless monkey.”

His cheeks flushing pink, Merlin looked down. “Sorry,” he mouthed silently.

Lance looked back at Merlin and gave him a reassuring smile. Leon just shook his head at Arthur. Gwaine was in his own world listening to music on his iPod. 

Arthur ignored Leon’s glare. Maybe it wasn’t right, but he was glad that he was finally able to get some reaction from Merlin.

Finally, the doors of the elevator opened with a “ding” and everyone piled out to head to their rooms. 

Walking fast, Merlin separated himself from the rest of his team and Arthur could almost feel his eyes roll as he watched Merlin make a beeline for the first room he saw. He called out to Merlin. “Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Merlin turned and furrowed his brow in confusion. “Picking out a room, I just want-

Arthur interrupted, speaking slowly as if to a child. “You can’t just pick any room you want. We have assigned rooms.”

“We-wha-I did-No one-

“Uh-uh-uh-what?” Arthur interrupted again, mocking Merlin’s stammering. “Eloquent as ever, farm boy.”

Merlin stepped back and shook his head. “Why are you calling me that? I didn’t grow up on a farm. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But-

“Will you shut up! No one cares.” Now that he had let it all out, Arthur found he couldn’t stop himself from letting out his frustration with Merlin.

“Stop interrupting me!” Merlin practically shouted. 

Even Gwaine took out his earbuds in surprise. 

“Look, you don’t have to be such a...” 

Arthur arched an eyebrow practically daring Merlin to finish that thought. 

“I just didn’t know.”

Arthur let out a smug laugh. “‘You didn’t know.’ Oh, and why is that, Merlin? Is it because you were late yet again when the assigned rooms were explained? Whose fault is that?”

Lance stepped forward and put a hand on both Arthur and Merlin’s shoulders. “Let’s all just go to our rooms. It’s been a long day and we’re all tired.”

Arthur shrugged off his hand. “I’m fine.”

Merlin glared at Arthur. “I don’t know why you’re making such a big deal about this, Arthur. All of the rooms are the same.”

“Do you ever get tired of being wrong, idiot? Why would I stay in the same crappy room as the rest of you?”

Merlin squared his shoulder and advanced on Arthur, getting inches from his face. Arthur was a bit surprised at how forceful he looked in that moment. Arthur took a slight step back.

“You pompous, privileged, prat!”

Arthur didn’t blink at the insult. He was somewhat impressed. He smirked and looked up at Merlin. “I would compliment you on your impressive use of alliteration, farm boy, but I’m fairly certain you wouldn’t know what I was talking about. But it is comforting to know your education did not end at primary school.”

Ignoring Arthur’s jibe, Merlin pressed on. “Do you think you’re better than the rest of us? That we’re all here just to bask in the brilliance of Arthur Pendragon and watch you and your desperate pursuit of a gold medal?” 

Arthur’s jaw clenched with Merlin’s last comment. 

“We’re supposed to be a team. You’re team captain. You’re supposed to be leading us and setting a good example, not treating everyone like they’re not good enough to share the floor with you. Everyone earned their place here just as much as you.”

Arthur nodded. “Gwaine, Lancelot, Leon they’re good gymnasts and they belong here.” He jabbed his finger in Merlin’s chest. “But not you. You don’t belong here, Merlin.”

“Arthur...” Lancelot started with a clear warning in his voice.

“What?” Arthur shot back.

“Nothing.” Lance shook his head. He put his hand on Merlin’s chest. “Come on, Merlin. Let’s go.” 

When Merlin continued to glare at Arthur, Lance grabbed his elbow and practically dragged him away.

Arthur stood stoically and watched Merlin and Lancelot disappear into their room. He could feel Gwaine and Leon’s disapproving stares boring a hole into the back of his head, but he didn’t look back at them. He didn’t need to see their faces to know that he went too far.

Before anyone else could say anything, Arthur stormed into his room. Immediately, he turned up his nose at the sight before him. It was an ordinary room. Two single beds, a dresser, two small bedside tables, a closet, and bathroom to the right. It was the standard room for every Olympian. Arthur didn’t know why he was expecting any different. It was the same as the last Olympics.

It was one of the rare times Arthur wished that his father was able to pull his usual strings and get some kind of an upgrade, but the Olympic Committee were sticklers for the rules and made no exceptions. Arthur knew this, but there was no way he was going to let Merlin know that.

 

~*~

 

There were times Merlin wished he was one of those super macho guys who could punch a wall without feeling the effects. He wanted so badly to punch something that wouldn’t hit back right now. Actually, he would prefer to punch Arthur Pendragon’s lights out. 

He sat down on the bed with his head in his hands for several moments. He stuffed his hands between his thighs and squeezed as he felt his magic coursing through his veins and almost overwhelming him.

Merlin usually did a good job of keeping his magic under control, but when his anger overwhelmed it got a lot harder.

There was one time when he was sixteen and he caught his and his mum’s horrid next door neighbor Kanen barking at his mother. One moment they were arguing the next Kanen’s barn went up in flames.

Nothing like that had ever happened before or since and Merlin was determined to keep it that way.

Lance didn’t say anything. He stood close by. After several minutes, he cleared his throat. “You know I think you handled Arthur really well out there. I’ve never seen you like that.” 

Merlin still didn’t look up or respond. 

“Merlin?!” Lance finally shouted.

Snapping his head up, Merlin looked at Lance in confusion. “What?”

Lance walked over and sat next to him on the bed. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Merlin lied and put on a fake smile. 

Though he and Lance hadn’t known each other for long, Lance had gotten pretty well at reading Merlin. He raised his eyebrows at Merlin and Merlin sighed. 

“I don’t understand why he’s acting like this. I keep trying to talk to him and trying to apologize. But I don’t even know what it is I did wrong.”

“Why would you assume this is your fault?”

Merlin shrugged. “I don’t know. I kind of have a habit of making a nuisance of myself.”

Ever the good-natured soul, Lance shook his head. “I don’t believe that. I’ve never had any problems with you. Actually, there was that Starbucks incident,” he grimaced slightly. 

“But now that I know you get really annoying when you’ve had the tiniest bit of caffeine-

“Oi, that cup was not tiny!” Merlin interrupted with an indignant pout. “It looked like I could go swimming in that bloody thing.”

Lance rolled his eyes. “Lightweight.”

Merlin smiled at Lance. He’d never had too many friends growing up and was really enjoying the banter and the closeness he’d quickly developed with Lance. 

It didn’t take long for Merlin’s thoughts to veer to Arthur once again and he frowned. “I thought we were friends. I mean, I thought Arthur and I were friends. I thought he liked me and that maybe we could...”

“Could what?” Lance said in a soft voice.

Merlin shook his head. “Nothing. Never mind. It doesn’t matter what I thought. Whatever the reason, Arthur’s determined to make me as miserable as possible.”

Lance rubbed his hands down his thighs and blew out a breath. “I don’t know why he’s acting like this. I’ve never seen him this way. He’s always been a bit of a-

“Prat. Wanker. Dollophead.”

Lance quirked an eyebrow at the last one. “Dollophead?”

“I make up words sometimes.”

“No, Merlin you’re not weird at all,” Lance teased.

Merlin elbowed him in the side. “Shut up!”

Lance grinned. “Anyway, as I was saying, Arthur isn’t usually like this.”

“You know what, I don’t care anymore.” Merlin got up and roughly unzipped his bag and started pulling out clothes and stuffing them haphazardly into a drawer. “I don’t care what he thinks or says. I earned the right to be here. I’ve waited too long, and sacrificed too much, to let anyone - especially His Royal Pratness Arthur Pendragon - spoil this for me. If he thinks he can push me around, and I’m just going to roll over and take it, he can think again.”

 

~*~

 

When Leon walked into the room, Arthur threw down his bag and started to unpack hastily. He purposefully avoided Leon's surreptitious glances. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and glared Leon's way. "What?!"

Leon just smirked. "I didn't say a word."

"No, but your thoughts are annoyingly loud and clear."

"It's good to know that you're still human enough to feel guilty about your behavior," Leon replied in amusement.

Arthur gritted his teeth almost painfully. "What would I have to feel guilty about?" He resumed his furious unpacking. "Look, you and everyone else may have fallen for Merlin's wide-eyed, innocent, farm boy act, but I haven't.”

Leon continued to incense Arthur by laughing heartily at that. "What is with your obsession with Merlin growing up on a farm? His mother was a housekeeper and he grew up in a normal house like all of us. Well, most of us." He finished pointedly.

"Fine. I really don't care where he grew up." Arthur conceded. "I just don't like him-

"Really?" Leon said in a mocking tone. "You hide it so well." 

Arthur closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. "I just think he's...weird." He said with more calm than he was feeling. 

"Oh, I think that's an exaggeration. He may be a little clumsy-

"Yes!" Arthur shouted uncharacteristically. "How does someone who can barely walk across the street without causing destruction go out there and do the kind of routines he's been doing lately?"

"Practice," Leon answered with ease. "He's worked incredibly hard, Arthur. You've seen that."

"That's not all I've seen," Arthur mumbled.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just forget it." He sank down on the bed and sighed. "Look, I'm going to try and keep my distance from him, but you're not going to change my mind, Leon. He doesn't belong here."

Leon walked over and sat down next to him. He briefly put a hand on Arthur's shoulder. The peaceful moment was broken by Leon's next words. "Are you feeling threatened by him?"

Arthur's eyes practically popped out and rolled across the floor. "Are you out of your tree? That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard."

Leon pursed his lips. "I know, and everyone else knows, that you and Lance are the best on the team. But Merlin has been getting better and better. It would be understandable that you might be worried-

"Worried?" Arthur shouted in astonishment. "I have never, nor will I ever, be worried or threatened by the likes of someone like Merlin Emrys. And you know you wouldn't be so enamored with your precious Merlin if you knew-”

There was a loud knock on the door. "Hey, princesses, it's time to get the lay of the land. Move your arses," Gwaine hollered.

Arthur would never have thought it possible, but he was incredibly grateful for Gwaine's obnoxious interruption. Though he certainly wasn't going to let him know that. "Bugger off, Gwaine. We'll be out in a minute." He turned to Leon. "I suppose we should get going then."

Leon looked at him curiously but didn't ask him to finish what he was going to say before Gwaine's interruption. He simply nodded and followed Arthur out.

That night Arthur, Gwaine, Leon, and Lance took a tour of the Olympic Village and spent some time in the gym. Gwaine dragged them all around in the hopes to meet Jessica Ennis. Merlin and Lance joined them at some point, though Arthur and Merlin made sure to keep their distance from one another, which was just fine with Arthur.

The next day it was time for Podium Training. Arthur was anxious to start work in the North Greenwich Arena and test out the equipment and apparatuses they’d be performing on during the Olympics.

As Arthur walked into the arena he noticed his father standing near the judges’ table. Arthur stiffened immediately. It’s not really that he was surprised to see Uther. As the national team coordinator, he wouldn’t be allowed on the floor during the competition, so he’d want to spend as much time out there as he could now. But Uther just had such an unbalancing effect on Arthur. He always had to fight enormously to get his focus back and never looked in the stands whenever Uther was at one of his events.

Uther beckoned him over. 

Arthur took a deep breath before walking over with as much cool as he could muster. “Good morning, father.”

His father gave a curt nod. “Morning, Arthur. Did you sleep well?” Before Arthur could be fooled into thinking this was a show of fatherly concern, Uther continued, “It’s important that you’re at your peak physically and mentally for the events ahead. We have a lot at stake.”

“I’m aware of that, father. But it’s just podium training today. We’re not being judged on anything.” Arthur winced as soon as the words left his mouth.

“With that kind of attitude, you can rest assured that your lack of success at the Olympics will continue,” Uther scoffed, looking down at Arthur with a scowl. “You are judged on every moment at the Olympics especially this year when you’re in your home country! Do you want to be embarrassed in front of your peers?” He barely gave Arthur time to shake his head. “I expect the best from you, Arthur. We don’t want a repeat of what happened at the World Championships.”

Arthur blinked up at his father. It took him a few seconds to respond. “But I won gold at World.”

“You were lucky, son. Uchimura was not performing to his usual standards and the Chinese team was not playing at their best, either. If they were, you wouldn’t have even made it to the podium. Your tumbling passes on the floor were sloppy, you barely held the rings steady, and you never stuck any of your landings. You cannot rely on luck here. You have to do better than that.”

Arthur cleared his throat and nodded. “I will, father. I won’t let you down. I promise,” he assured his father with more strength than he felt at the moment.

Clapping Arthur on the shoulder, Uther said nothing more. To Arthur’s immense relief he left soon after that. But Arthur was still shaken by their talk. He immediately set to work on the floor mat. 

Stripping off his shirt and his tracksuit bottoms to reveal the small red shorts all team GB would be wearing during their floor routines. After a few warm-up exercises, he did a few handstands to test the texture of the mat and how comfortable it felt. Afterward, he immediately started with his tumbling passes. 

He did a series of somersaults, taking flight high in the air at the end of the pass with a twist and landing perfectly, buoyed by that he went straight to the ground and did a push-up and went right into another difficult pass after that. It started off well. He did a triple twist, but landed awkwardly and stumbled. He shook it off immediately. He did a few splits. Then another tumbling pass that went fine. After performing a handstand, he did another pass. He did a backward somersault with two and a half twists and ended up crashing to the floor when he misjudged the landing. 

A little dazed, but more pissed off at what a stupid mistake, he didn’t notice the figure standing next to him until he stuck his hand out. He took the proffered hand without looking at who it was. When he looked up to see Merlin looking at him with concern, he felt his humiliation triple. 

Ripping his hand from Merlin’s, he pushed the brunette back slightly. “I don’t need nor want your help.” He wrinkled his nose. “You haven’t been on one apparatus and you stink like day old rubbish. It’s called a shower. Or did they not have those where you grew up?” He stalked off towards the chalk stand, leaving a flustered Merlin behind.

Chalking up his hands, Arthur tried to pay attention to anything other than Merlin on the floor, but his focus kept drifting over there. Merlin was practically gliding through the air, making it look effortless. He stuck landing after landing. It made Arthur’s blood boil. He almost cut off circulation to his hand, tightening a grip on his wrist too tight. Realizing he was at serious risk of injuring himself, he walked off to practice on the pommel horse. He did just fine there and on parallel bars. 

He saved his three favorite apparatus for last. Rings was one of his best events and he dominated on high bar and had the World Championship Gold to prove it. But if he could specialize in one event only he would choose the vault. It was where his heart lay and the one apparatus he felt had something to prove. He’d won his first medal in the vault - bronze - at the World Championships last year. 

Winning a medal wasn’t the only reason vault was so important to Arthur. There weren’t a lot of things he knew about his mother - his father rarely talked about her - but one thing he did know was that she was a sensational gymnast, who could have been a great Olympian if her life had not been cut short. Her best and favorite event was the vault. There was no need for his father to remind him that had a lot to live up to; he was aware of that every day.

Arthur had been working on a new vault all year and was hoping that if he perfected it at the Olympics, that it would be named after him. He started with his “easier” vault, a double front half out with a 6.5 difficulty rating. He knew that many other gymnasts would be performing vaults with even higher difficulty. 

Taking a deep breath, he charged down the runway gaining speed as he approached the table. He pushed off and got wonderful height while keeping his body as straight as possible and feet stretched before doing a tucked somersault and landing perfectly. He quietly pumped his fist after nailing that, but immediately started to prepare for the next vault. 

Exhaling slowly, he charged down the runway again, but did a roundoff onto the springboard, before doing a back handspring onto the table. Once again his height off the table was amazing, but his extension wasn’t quite the way he wanted it during the triple twist, and he stumbled on the landing.

Ripping off his grips in frustration, he stalked over to chalk up his hands again. He was hoping that by now, he’d have figured out how to get the twists the way he wanted. And he only stuck the landing 50% of the time. 

Considering how his day was going, he wasn’t too surprised to see Merlin getting ready to try his vaults. Arthur wasn’t too worried about competition from Merlin. He was a good vaulter, but his difficulty level was always lower than everyone else’s. He never pushed himself hard enough. His first vault only had a 6.0 difficulty rating.

Arthur was always surprised by how ferocious and yet, still graceful, that Merlin looked when taking off down the runway. Merlin did a back handspring off the table and a backward double in the pike position. His hands were touching his perfectly extended toes and his landing was perfect. 

Arthur wouldn’t exactly say that his mouth dropped, but it was pretty close. He did not like what he was seeing, lower difficulty or not, it was about as perfect as you could get. If he performed like this at the Olympics his execution scores would be close to perfect. 

And Merlin repeated his excellence on the next vault. Arthur did not remember Merlin being this good before.

Merlin was beaming as he walked over to the chalk stand. 

Arthur watched him subtly from under his lashes. “That was...impressive.”

Merlin’s head jerked up. “What?” He squeaked.

“Your vaults...they were good.”

“Thanks,” Merlin said, clearly hesitant.

“It’s too bad you don’t have a shot in hell of winning the gold in the competition. Perhaps if you didn’t take the easy way out with such lightweight vaults.”

Merlin simply nodded, unsurprised by the dig. “I’m not concerned. I think my performance speaks for itself. I don’t think gymnastics has to be about flashy tricks, with no substance to go with it. You can have the highest difficulty in the world, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t back it up.”

Arthur’s eyes narrowed. “Are you trying to insinuate something about me?”

Merlin grinned. “Funny how you assume I’m talking about you.” He walked away before Arthur could even think of a response.

Fortunately, for Arthur, Merlin was next up on the rings, which was not his best event. 

He started with an iron cross, extending his arms straight out from the sides of his body. He managed to hold it for two seconds, but the rings were vibrating more than necessary. Swinging up into a handstand, his toes weren’t pointed as they should have been. Arthur smirked at Merlin’s lack of finesse. 

Merlin performed a few effective swings and then did an L-sit, forming an L shape with his body. He did it quite well, but you could see the tremendous effort it was taking for him.

“There’s a medic on standby, right? He looks like he’s about to burst a blood vessel,” Arthur whisper-shouted. 

“Quiet, Arthur,” Gaius admonished.

As Merlin swung into an inverted cross, Arthur laughed. “What? I’m trying to be helpful. We all know this is not his best event. There’s no reason for you to try so hard, Merlin!”

Gaius grabbed Arthur by the ear and pulled him aside. 

“Ow!” Arthur yelled when Gaius let go. “What in God’s name do you think you’re doing?”

“It’s not quite so fun being embarrassed when the shoe is on the other foot, is it?” Gaius’ raised eyebrow challenged Arthur to deny it. When Arthur merely shrugged his shoulders, Gaius continued. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you lately Arthur, but I don’t like it. And I don’t care how talented you are or who your father is, I won’t put up with it any longer. Have I made myself clear?” 

Arthur didn’t respond. But after another skyward eyebrow raise from Gaius, he grunted his assent.

After Gaius walked off, Arthur rubbed his ear some more and stared across the room at Merlin. He looked to be getting some advice from his coach, John Kilgharrah. Merlin turned his head and met Arthur’s gaze unwaveringly. 

Arthur knew that he was letting Merlin split his focus, and it was getting worse and worse and affecting his performance. But he didn’t know what to do to stop it. 

 

~*~

 

“Can you believe they just jumped out of the plane like that?! Those had to be stunt people”

“I don’t know. That old bird’s pretty tough.”

“Oi! Have some respect. That’s the Queen you’re talking about.”

“I wasn’t talking about the Queen. I was talking about Bond.”

Everyone laughed uproariously at Gwaine’s joke, including Merlin, who almost stumbled, trying to walk and take in everything around him at the same time. 

This had been, without a doubt, the best night of Merlin’s life. It wasn’t just the spectacle of the Queen’s introduction or Shakespearean readings and tributes to Voldemort, or Mr. Freaking Bean, the dancers, and so much more. Merlin was just so proud to be an Olympian, marching with the rest of his countrymen, in front of the home crowd. This was the greatest feeling ever. 

And it helped that Arthur was behaving himself...actually more than just behaving himself. It seemed that Arthur was also swept up in the pageantry and good cheer. He was smiling and laughing with everyone, waving to the crowd. It was the happiest Merlin had ever seen Arthur.

Though Merlin was happy to see Arthur so relaxed, Merlin had no intention of approaching him. He’d been burned enough by Arthur’s attitude and insults. He was sure that one night of fun would not thaw Arthur’s feelings about him. That certainty wavered when Merlin glanced over at Arthur and saw him smiling at him. Merlin looked over his shoulder; sure Arthur was looking at someone else. When he looked back, Arthur was making his way over. Merlin braced himself.

Arthur cleared his throat. “This is some night.” He seemed to be making a concerted effort to look at everywhere but Merlin’s face.

“Yeah.” Merlin put down his phone, which he had been using to film everything.

“Look, Merlin, I just wanted to-

“Tell me that I smell, insult my intelligence, question my reason for existing?”

Arthur sighed. “No, that’s not what I was going to say. I’m trying-

Merlin cut him off again. “Arthur, it’s been a really great night. And I would really rather you not spoil it.”

“I’m not trying to spoil it. I’m trying to...” He took a deep breath. “I’m trying to apologize if you would just shut up. It doesn’t happen very often so you might want to pay attention.”

Apologize? Merlin thought for a moment, he must have hallucinated. After gaping at him for a few seconds, Merlin shook himself and realized he was being rude. “I’m all ears.”

“Clearly,” Arthur mumbled.

Instead of getting upset, Merlin laughed. He could see in Arthur’s eyes that he was teasing. It was the kind of teasing he used to do when they first met. “Prat,” Merlin smiled.

For a moment there’s such an ease between them, but Arthur soon looks - not mad or annoyed - but certainly not happy. “I know that I’ve made things difficult lately. It hasn’t been good for the team. And I haven’t been fair. You don’t have to worry about me picking fights or insulting you anymore. I just want to concentrate on what we came here for.” He extended his hand to Merlin. “Truce?”

It felt unreal, too good to be true, and that was the only reason Merlin hesitated for a moment. But he stared into Arthur’s eyes and could see true sincerity, so he squeezed Arthur’s hand. 

“Truce.” Merlin was sure the night couldn’t get any better. But then the familiar popping sound of fireworks erupted. Looking up an array of brilliant colors and shapes lit up the sky. He looked over and saw Arthur looking up at the display as well, with a smile almost as blinding and radiant as the fireworks themselves. “It’s amazing, isn’t?”

Arthur continued to look wistfully up at the sky. “Yeah,” he whispered.

“I can’t believe that tomorrow I get to participate in my first Olympics. I’m so excited...” Merlin’s smile faltered a little. “But there’s a part of me that wishes we could stay in this moment forever. No fears, expectations, or disappointments. Don’t have to worry about letting anyone down. I want it to be like this the entire time, but I know it can’t.”

He kicked at a piece of gravel and felt embarrassed for being so vulnerable and ruining a happy moment. When he looked over at Arthur he was surprised to see him looking at him with such understanding. For a brief moment, he could see the same fear reflected in Arthur’s eyes. 

Quickly, Merlin smiled wide and shook his head. “Well, enough of that ‘emo’ rubbish.”

Arthur threw back his head and laughed. “Yes, quite right. Emo is definitely not a good look on you.” 

Merlin grinned. They blended in amongst the crowd, walking back towards some of their teammates. Merlin tripped and bumped into several people as he tried to walk and look at the fireworks at the same time. Arthur just shook his head and walked ahead of him. 

Merlin caught up quickly. “I’m so nervous about tomorrow. Having to do five events-"

Arthur stopped in his tracks and Merlin almost collided into him. “What?”

“I’m doing five events tomorrow. Didn’t you know?”

“Obviously not,” Arthur said, that testy edge creeping back into his voice. “When was this decided?”

Merlin shrugged. “I don’t know. Gaius told me yesterday.”

Arthur rubbed a hand across his face. “How in the hell is that even possible? Tell me that you’re skipping rings because you’re not very good.”

Merlin bristled at Arthur’s tone. “So much for no more insults.” He swallows thickly. 

For a moment he tried to think of something to say to get them back to that peaceful place they were in seconds ago. But he’s too hurt by Arthur’s comment about the rings - the fact that Arthur’s right just makes it sting more. “I’m getting better, and I’m better on rings than Gwaine.”

“Bloody hell, Merlin! You’re rubbish at them and you know it. And the pommel horse isn’t your best event either. Elyan always used to do that event at competitions and he’s much more skilled at it than you.”

“Well, Elyan’s not on the team, is he?” Merlin shot back. They were getting louder and were managing to attract the attention of their teammates and a few other people in the vicinity.

“No, he’s just an alternate. Thanks to you.” 

The others arrived and Lance, Leon, and Gwaine tried to shield Arthur and Merlin’s fight from the cameras pointing in their vicinity. 

“There are so many other men who were more qualified, and better for this team than you. Even Mordred’s better suited.” 

“Oh, come on that’s ridiculous! You know I’m a damn sight better than Mordred!” He turned to the teenager, another alternate on the team, and gave him a sheepish shrug. “Sorry, Mordred.” 

The sullen teenager merely grunted something unintelligible. 

“There are only so many people that can be on this team. We all did the best we could do. Why should I apologize because I got picked and the others didn’t?” Merlin crossed his arms in front of his chest and started feeling more than a little anxious. He could feel his magic starting to flare up and knew he should back away, but the smug look on Arthur’s face wouldn’t let him.

“Because you have advantages the rest of us don’t.”

Merlin looked at Arthur with wide eyes and let out a mirthless chuckle “You’re talking to me about advantages? You, Arthur Pendragon? That is unbelievable! Your dad is the team coordinator. He’s the one who decides the schedule and who competes where. That’s how you get to perform last every single time. That’s how you get everything your spoiled little heart desires. If you’re having such a problem with me, why don’t you whine and pout to your father and have him take care of your problems like he always does?”

To everyone’s shock Arthur shoved Merlin hard. Everyone gasped. Merlin stumbled but didn’t lose his footing. 

“You have no idea what you’re talking about, farm boy.”

Flexing his hands, Merlin knew he was about two seconds from doing something that might blow his whole life apart. 

Leon stepped in front of Arthur. “That’s enough. Unless you want to be embarrassed on national...” Arthur stepped around him. “Quite sure I was still talking,” Leon mumbled.

Arthur stalked towards Merlin with an unattractive sneer marring his face. “It would serve you right if I did go to my father. He should know that you’re nothing but a lying...” He shoved Merlin again. “...dirty...” Another shove. “...cheater!” 

This time, Merlin did stumble and fall to the ground. But he was too dazed by Arthur’s accusation to even register that. He scanned the area quickly, hoping that no one heard Arthur. Merlin knew that he wasn’t cheating, but all it really took was even the suspicion of wrongdoing and the whispers would start and there might always be doubt about anything he ever achieved. Merlin couldn’t believe that Arthur would lie about something so potentially life-altering. 

Seething with anger, Merlin couldn’t think straight. Using his magic, a light behind everyone shattered. It didn’t even occur to Merlin to worry about what everyone might have seen.

Everyone gasped and turned around. By the time they turned around, Merlin surged up and lunged at Arthur. He didn’t quite manage to topple over Arthur, but he did knock the wind out of him.

Filled with a triumphant glee at the way Arthur was wheezing, Merlin wasn’t paying enough attention and was caught off guard when Arthur got him in a headlock. Merlin gurgled.

Suddenly, Merlin felt another set of arms on him. Percival, Gwaine’s coach, single-handedly and quite quickly had separated the two of them, practically lifting Merlin off the ground when he tried to struggle against him. 

As soon as Gaius stepped in between them, the two stopped struggling. If looks could kill, they were both sure Gaius eyebrows would leap off his head and strangle them.

“What on Earth is going on here?” Gaius hissed and then shook his head briefly. “I’m not going to deal with this here. This team has been embarrassed in front of the cameras enough for one night. Everyone go inside.” 

When Arthur and Merlin went to go with the others, Gaius stopped them. 

“Not you two. You two will follow me.” 

Arthur and Merlin spared each other one last hostile glare. They followed Gaius to his room. They refused to look at each other. Merlin was afraid his anger would boil over again and he’d once again do something stupid. 

Gaius used to be a medic and would often do double duty as the team’s physician. He did a cursory once over to Merlin and Arthur to make sure they hadn’t hurt themselves during their little scuffle. After that, he just stared at them for long, silent moments that seemed to stretch endlessly. 

Both Arthur and Merlin had known Gaius since they were boys and were very familiar with this tactic of his, designed to make you feel as small as possible. Sometimes that was all he did and then sometimes…

“Of all the stupid and irresponsible things you could have possibly done, you two choose to fight like children at an event that the world is watching?! How could you be so stupid!”

...Sometimes there was yelling. 

“How could you embarrass yourselves, embarrass your team, embarrass your country like this? Not to mention you could have been seriously injured and your Olympics would be over before they even started. What do you have to say for yourselves?” Arthur opened his mouth to speak, but Gaius cut him off. “No, I don’t want to hear it. There is no reason that can justify your behavior. Come with me.” 

They followed Gaius down the hall to Arthur and Leon’s room. He burst in without knocking. 

Leon, who had been pacing, stopped in his tracks at the trio’s arrival. “What’s going on?”

“Pack your bags, Leon.”

“What did I do?” A confused Leon pouted.

Gaius rolled his eyes. “Nothing. Arthur’s getting a new roommate.”

Arthur looked at Gaius quizzically. “What? Who are you...?” He looked at Merlin and then back at Gaius, then a back again. “You can’t be serious.”

“In all the years you’ve known me, Arthur, have I been known to have a sense of humor?”

“You-you can’t do that,” Arthur sputtered, sounding haughty even now.

“I believe I can. Leon...” Gaius quirked an eyebrow at Leon. 

Leon, who had been standing motionless watching the scene before him got moving, picking up his bag and packing quickly.

“Wait, Gaius, please don’t do this,” Merlin pleaded. “Why would you punish me like that? I know that I was stupid to fight with Arthur. I shouldn’t have let him get to me like that. But you don’t know what he said-

“Oh, shut up Merlin! This is as much your fault as it is mine!” Arthur interjected.

“You bloody liar! You started this whole thing!” Merlin shouted.

“‘You started it?’ You sound like such a girl, Merlin!”

“ENOUGH!” Gaius bellowed. 

Leon finished packing and practically sprinted towards the door. Before he could open the door, Gaius put a hand on his shoulder. 

“Tell Lance to pack Merlin’s belongings and bring them here.” 

Leon nodded. He threw a quick, empathetic glance toward Arthur and left.

“Wait, I can’t even pack my own things?” Merlin questioned in surprise.

“No. I’m sequestering you two for the rest of the evening, and the rest of the week if need be. I will not have your reckless and childish behavior poisoning the rest of the group. I don’t know why you two can’t get along, but I suggest you figure out a way to put aside your differences and act like the mature young men I know you are capable of being.”

“This isn’t some Disney movie, Gaius!” Arthur said with a stunning amount of arrogance for one in his current position. “You can’t force us to be friends.”

“I’m not suggesting you become friends, but you are teammates and that is how I need you to behave. You don’t have to like each other, but stop putting everyone else in the middle of your childish squabbles.” Gaius sighed. “I’ve taught many young men over the years and have been fond of them all. But you two...you hold a special place in my heart. I’ve watched you grow up from boys into men with amazing strength and talent. It saddens and disappoints me to see you behaving the way you are.” 

Some of his anger was starting to dissipate and now Merlin was realizing how crazy he behaved. He felt suitably chastened and guilty.

Arthur still held his high in defiance, but his eyes were downcast and he was frowning. 

Gaius opened the door to leave but turned to look at them once more. “Try not to kill each other. It might put a damper on the competition.” 

Before he could close the door, Arthur hurried over. “Wait, Gaius I’m-I’m sorry. There has to be some other way you can punish us. Force us to sit through an hour of Kilgharrah endless war stories. I’ll clean the gym showers for a month, whatever, just not this. You know I always room with Leon.”

“You may not see it now, but sometimes change can be a good thing.” With that, Gaius closed the door behind him.

Arthur and Merlin immediately glared at each other. Their stare-off was interrupted by Lance arriving with Merlin’s things. 

After placing Merlin’s bags at his feet, he squeezed his shoulder. “Sorry about this, Merlin.”

“It’s not going to be a picnic for me, either,” Arthur said.

Lance just gave him a stern look. Throwing Merlin one last sympathetic look, he left the room. 

Merlin kicked his bags toward his new bed. Looking back at Arthur, he hesitated, and then took a breath before speaking. “So, are we going to talk about what happened?”

“I have no intention of speaking to you now or anytime soon if I can help it. What I will be doing is meditating and going to bed.”

“Meditating?” Merlin curled up his lip. 

Arthur narrowed his eyes. “Shut up, Merlin! I’d appreciate it if you could remain quiet for the next few minutes.”

“Oh, of course. How could I resist such a nice request?” Sarcasm dripped from Merlin’s voice and he had to curb the urge to strangle Arthur.

Ignoring Merlin, Arthur sat in front of his bed with his legs crossed, back straight and lowered his gaze to the floor. 

Merlin watched Arthur with narrowed eyes. He was not about to let Arthur off that easy. Wearing a path in front of his new bed, he watched Arthur. As soon as Arthur’s breathing started to slow and his face took on a look of serenity, Merlin went and sat down on the bed and started picking at his nails.

When Arthur’s back stiffened, Merlin knew he was getting to him and a satisfied grin spread over his face. Deciding to up the stakes, he started biting at them, which definitely increased the volume.

Arthur finally opened one eye and peered in Merlin’s direction. He wrinkled his nose when he saw what Merlin was doing. “Must you bite your nails like that?”

Merlin shook his head. “You know you’re right.”

Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. He closed his eyes again. 

_Snick-snick-snick._ Merlin started clipping his nails with a nail clipper right on the bed sheet. 

Arthur growled lowly and slowly turned to face Merlin. He didn’t say a word; his bulging eyes did the talking for him.

“This is much better.” Merlin smiled.

It looked like Arthur was going to have an aneurysm. Merlin never knew annoying someone could be that much fun.

Getting up swiftly, Arthur stalked towards Merlin. “Could you not do that? The sound is like nails on a chalkboard.”

Merlin clipped one last nail and put the clippers down. “Fine.”

Not saying “thank you” Arthur went over to his bed. Stripping off his shirt, he got under the covers and grabbed a book on the bedside table. He turned on the small black lamp provided for them and settled down to read. 

As soon as Arthur settled down, Merlin reached into the drawer by his bed and pull out a bag of crisps that made a crinkly noise. He ripped open the bag and then stuffed a few into his mouth.

_Crunch-crunch-crunch._

Arthur turned his head and glared at Merlin. 

To ramp things up, Merlin started making exaggerated noises noisily, his mouth practically hanging open with bits flying out. 

Putting his book down, Arthur reached into the drawer and pulled out some headphones. Turning to Merlin, he pointedly showed him the big, gray headphones as he put them on. 

Not one to be outdone, Merlin put away his crackers and got up. He stripped off his t-shirt to reveal a black tank top underneath. 

It hadn’t really occurred to Merlin to try and get a rise out of Arthur by using his body since he was sure that Arthur had no interest in his body, but he did see that Arthur was watching him intently. Merlin stretched his supple arms above his head, revealing a bit of the smooth white skin just above his waist. He could have sworn he thought he heard Arthur’s breath coming out harsher. 

Suddenly, Merlin started doing jumping jacks. He heard Arthur’s book hit the floor. That made him chuckle and pick up the pace.

Arthur ripped off his headphones. “Just what the bloody hell do you think you’re doing?”

“What does it look like? You have your nighttime ritual and I have mine.” Merlin said, breathing heavily. 

“You do jumping jacks before you go to bed?” 

“Sounds weird but it really calms me down.”

“Everything about you is weird, Merlin. But I don’t believe for a second this is what you normally do before going to bed. You’re just trying to annoy me.”

Merlin smiled. “That’s just a bonus.”

“UGH!” Arthur roared. “What is wrong with you?! Why are you determined to ruin what is supposed to be one of the greatest times in my life?”

“I could ask you the same question!” Merlin ran his hands through his hair, tugging at it. “Ever since the Olympic Trials, you’ve been treating me like I’m this filthy thing that doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as you and I don’t understand because I’ve done nothing to you. All I tried to do was be your friend and you just turned on me. And you won’t tell me why.” 

Merlin took a deep breath and squared his shoulders as he stalked towards Arthur. 

“Well, I’m sick of it. You are going to tell me why you’re acting like this. Until you do, don’t plan on getting any sleep tonight.”

“I already told you why.”

“Because I’m a cheater?!” Merlin shouted, his voice full of frustration and disbelief. “That’s a lie and you know it. I don’t know how you can say something so hurtful and vicious.”

Arthur walked forward and got right in Merlin’s face. “Because I know what you are.”

Merlin took a small step back. “What are you talking about?” He said, fearing that he already knew what Arthur was referring to.

“You know exactly what I mean.” Ice dripped from Arthur’s words. “For years, my father told me about people like you, but I didn’t believe him. How could I believe that there were actual sorcerers in this world? But that’s what you are, Merlin. You...have...magic.” 

Merlin’s face drained of all color - not that there was much to begin with - and the look in his eyes was pure fear. “You’re crazy.” It sounded weak even to his ears.

“No, no I’m not. I know you have magic, Merlin. It explains so much - how you’ve gotten as far as you have so quickly. How you made the team...”

The fear in Merlin’s eyes was quickly replaced with anger. “It explains everything? Why because someone like me couldn’t possibly have any talent or succeed unless he had magical powers?”

“You can try to turn this around as much as you want, but I don’t hear you denying it.”

“I-” Merlin opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Then, he sighed in defeat and walked over to the bed, sitting down heavily. “How do you know?” Merlin whispered.

“The night Gaius threw you that little soiree after the taxi dropped you off I noticed that you left your wallet behind, so I decided to go back and give it to you,” Arthur explained while looking down at the floor.

Merlin peered up at Arthur and blinked in confusion. “I never left my wallet.”

Arthur’s Adam’s Apple bobbed up and down as he swallowed. “Yes, well I didn’t know that at the time, turned out to be an earlier passenger of the taxi. Anyway, it’s not important whose wallet it was. I had the driver take me back to your house. I knocked, but no one answered. I saw that a light was on in the back. So I went to your back door, and that’s when I saw you. A cup was falling to the ground and then - poof - it just stopped mid-fall. Your eyes...it’s like they were glowing.”

Merlin closed his eyes and groaned. He remembered. His mum had just gone to sleep. He was walking around listening to his iPod with his earbuds in. 

After his talk with Arthur, it was like he was floating on air and couldn’t help dancing around a little bit. In his flailing - uh, dancing - he knocked a cup off the table. He didn’t want to wake his mother up, so he stopped it from falling. He was usually so careful, even at home. He hated having to hide his magic as if it were something dirty that he needed to be ashamed of, but he had experience and knew that no one would understand. Now, because of one little mistake, his life could be ruined. 

He leaped up and cornered Arthur. “Please, Arthur, you have to listen to me. This isn’t how you think it is.”

“Save it, Merlin,” Arthur gritted out. “I know what your kind is like.”

Merlin recoiled in disgust. “‘My kind’?! What do you know about magic? Have you ever met anyone before with magic?”

Arthur’s bravado faltered slightly. “No, but-but my father has met people who possessed magic. Nothing good comes from it.”

“Your father is wrong, Arthur. Please, listen to me,” Merlin pleaded.

Arthur shook his head and rubbed his hand across his face. “I can’t do this right now, Merlin. I’m too tired.” He pushed past Merlin. ‘Whether you like it or not, I will be getting some sleep tonight.” He grabbed his book and collapsed onto his bed, turning his back to Merlin.

“Arthur, please?”

“Merlin!” Arthur yelled, the warning crystal clear.

Merlin pressed the heels of his hands to eyes and wanted to scream, but he just threw up his hands and went to his bed. He lay back and blinked up at the ceiling. He could only pray that Arthur would continue to keep quiet about what he saw.


	2. Chapter 2

Finally unburdening himself and letting Merlin know that he knew what Merlin was should have felt great, but Arthur had one of the worst nights of sleep in his life. Waking up his eyelids felt like saddlebags and he needed two cups of coffee to not feel like the walking dead.

When he closed his eyes that night, the only thing he could see was the fear in Merlin’s eyes when Arthur told him he knew he was a sorcerer. The only thing he could hear was the sheer panic in Merlin’s voice when he begged Arthur to listen.

After he woke up and got out of bed, the first thing his eyes landed on was Merlin sprawled out on the bed, one leg sticking out of the covers, a tuft of hair on his right side sticking up, and his mouth wide open. It wasn’t the most attractive tableau, but Arthur found it endearing and the feelings he had for Merlin that he’d barely managed to stuff down came to the surface.

He tried to shake it off and went to get some coffee. When he came back and Merlin was somehow still asleep, Arthur sighed and sat down on his bed and stared at him. A part of his guilt was that he wasn’t entirely truthful with Merlin last night.

That he saw Merlin performing magic wasn’t a lie, but the reason he told Merlin that he had come back was. After Arthur told Merlin he could give him a call the next day, Arthur felt so buoyant and energized and, most of all, he was impatient. He was like a kid on Christmas morning and he didn’t want to wait to hear Merlin’s voice the next day.

For one of the only times in his life, he threw caution to the wind and told the driver to turn around. He wanted to spend the whole night talking to Merlin...and perhaps do other things. Of course, when he got there his dreams were crushed when he saw that Merlin had magic.

As he told Merlin, his father told him nothing good came from those who had magic. Arthur was actually being kind when he said that. Uther’s words about magic and sorcerers were filled with venom and such contempt it scared Arthur. Part of the reason he hadn’t told his father about what he discovered about Merlin was that he didn’t know what his father would do to him. Arthur may have thought that Merlin was most likely a cheater, but he didn’t want to see Uther ruin his life.

When Arthur would press his father for more details about why he hated magic so much Uther would just shut down. Since Arthur had no experience with magic and he trusted his judgment, he took on his father’s feelings about magic. 

But now he wasn’t sure what to believe. He had trouble reconciling the Merlin he knew, or thought he knew, with the evil sorcerer he was making him out to be in his head. Was Merlin that good an actor or did Arthur need so badly to believe the worst in Merlin that he was using the magic as an excuse? Arthur shook his head, unwilling to ponder any of this right now.

Looking at his watch, Arthur sighed. He needed to stop being an Edward Cullen level creeper and stop watching Merlin sleep and wake him up. They needed to be at the arena soon.

He stood up. “Merlin, get up.”

When Merlin just turned over and snuffled, Arthur got up. He took the glass of water on the nightstand and poured it over Merlin’s face.

Sputtering, Merlin shot up in bed. “What? What are you doing?”

Arthur pointed to the clock. “Sleeping Beauty needs to get up unless you’d rather not compete and let the entire team down.” 

Merlin scrambled out of bed. He wiped at his face. “Thanks for the lovely wake up call.”

“It’s not my fault you didn’t set an alarm. Or do you do have some kind of magical alarm clock?” 

Merlin rolled his eyes.

“Be thankful I woke you up at all.” Arthur turned to leave. 

“Wait, Arthur, we still haven’t...”

Arthur closed the door behind him. He threw his head back and blew out a breath. He needed to put this out of his mind if he had any shot at performing at his best today.

 

~*~

 

When Merlin and the rest of the team arrived at the arena they had fifteen minutes to stretch and then a few minutes to practice on each apparatus. Merlin tried to make eye contact with Arthur several times, but he was studiously avoiding his gaze. 

He went to warm up on the parallel bars and was joined by his coach, Kilgharrah. “And how are we this morning, young Emrys.”

“I’m...I’m...I’m scared, petrified, frightened...Wait, those all mean the same thing.” Merlin was shaking so hard all over he swore he could feel his eyelids vibrating. “But I think I’m ready. I can do this.”

Kilgharrah nodded. “You have everything within you to become a great champion, Merlin.”

“No pressure.” Merlin laughed. “That sounds more like Arthur than me.”

“You and Arthur aren’t as different as you believe.” Kilgharrah chalked up the bars and looked back at Merlin. “I think you two need each more than you realize.”

Merlin shook his head. “Arthur doesn’t need me. He hates me.”

Kilgharrah chuckled wryly, patting Merlin’s shoulder. “Nothing could be further from the truth.”

Assuming that Kilgharrah must have got started on the sloe gin a little earlier than usual, Merlin was prepared to laugh off his claims, but there was something in his coach’s eyes that gave him pause. As much as he liked to tease the older man, he knew that Kilgharrah was very wise and had always given him great advice. He’d never steered him in the wrong path before and he seemed so certain, that Merlin almost believed him. 

Merlin excused himself and went to the chalk stand. As he was chalking up his hands, he noticed his mother in the stands. Smiling big and bright, he waved at her. She was beaming proudly and waved back. 

Even though contact with families was forbidden at this point, Merlin decided to take his chances to say a quick hello. It felt like it had been such a long time since he’d seen her. 

As he reached the stands she walked down to meet him at the railing. She stretched as far as she could and squeezed his hands. 

“How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m fine. I’m a little nervous, but I’m ready.” He smiled up at her. “Are you sure the hotel you’re staying at is all right because I can ask Gaius to find someplace better.”

Hunith’s laugh was airy and filled with loving amusement. “It’s quite alright, Merlin. I’ve certainly slept in worse places. The only thing that matters to me is that I get to be here and see your dreams come true. You have no idea how happy that makes me.”

Merlin tried to keep his emotions steady, but could feel his eyes welling up. Just thinking about all of the sacrifices his mother had made over the years made him feel guilty. When they discovered that Merlin had a natural talent at gymnastics, despite having a minimal paying job, Hunith made sure to get Merlin the best coach in the area. The coaches in their small town of Ealdor were great, but Hunith realized that to fully explore Merlin’s potential he would need the best, so even though she’d never wanted to raise Merlin in a big city, when Merlin was eight she moved them to London to study with her Uncle Gaius. 

She took on two jobs, housekeeper by day and hotel maid by night, to pay for Merlin’s equipment and the cost of travel for the different competitions Merlin needed to participate in. 

When Merlin was fourteen he offered to get a part-time job, but Hunith wouldn’t hear of it. And still, despite all of the hours she worked, she managed to be at every major competition of Merlin’s, cheering him on. 

Merlin clasped his mother’s hand tightly. “The only reason I’m here is because of you. I don’t want to let you down.”

“You won’t,” Hunith said with such conviction it almost erased Merlin’s fears. “The only thing I’ve ever wanted was for you to be happy, doing the thing that you love. Please promise me something, Merlin.” 

“Anything.”

“You’ll never have another first Olympics. I don’t want you to spend the time you should be enjoying this, worrying about anything, especially me. Enjoy this moment, Merlin.”

“I will. I promise.” He looked back towards the floor and his team. “I have to go, mum. I love you.”

She kissed his knuckles softly. “I love you, too.”

 

~*~

 

As Arthur had watched Merlin with his mother, he couldn’t help feeling a stab of jealousy. He’d tried to put Merlin out of his mind all morning and focus on his routines, but couldn’t help stealing glances at him. 

Merlin might be the most confusing person he’d ever met. There was really nothing that was so different about him from the boy he’d first met. The sweet, big-eared, big-hearted, goofy, weird, and funny boy that he’d wanted to be friends - that he wanted to be more than friends with? 

Arthur refused to think about having those types of feelings for Merlin. No matter what he might feel for Merlin, nothing could come from it now. Merlin had magic and Arthur had no idea how to deal with that. 

It was almost time to get started. As the team finally gathered together, they stood to wait to officially be led into the arena and to their first event, the floor exercise. Gaius turned to all of them solemnly. “No matter what issues you’ve been dealing with lately,” he looked pointedly at Arthur and Merlin, “you are the finest team I’ve had the privilege of working with. Do what I know you can do out there. And don’t forget where you are and who you are representing. Make London as proud of you as I already am.”

Everyone nodded without saying a word.

Gaius turned toward Arthur. “As team captain, is there anything you’d like to add?”

Clenching his fists together, Arthur chewed his bottom lip and struggled to come up with something - some words of wisdom - to say. He hated being put on the spot like this. “Uh...we all know what we came here to do. So let’s...we shouldn’t let the country down.” He cleared his throat and nodded.

After an awkward beat, Gwaine clapped his hands together. “Well, I certainly feel inspired.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. Glancing to the side, he saw Merlin was watching him with a level of pity that surprised Arthur, especially considering their last conversation.

Mercifully, an attendant carrying the sign of Great Britain walked towards them. He instructed them when to walk out. The cheers from the crowd as they made their way out was deafening. Most of the crowd was already seated when the team had started practicing, but Arthur was so preoccupied with thoughts of Merlin, his magic, his father, that he hadn’t really been aware of the audience. But now he was definitely aware of all eyes on them. He saw all the British flash and signs supporting the team. He soaked in the cheers of the crowd and smiled, giving a little wave.

 

~*~

 

Lance was first up on the floor. It wasn’t really a surprise when he gave the team an excellent start. Lance was always solid on the floor. He scored a 15.266. Everyone clapped Lance on the shoulder and congratulated him.

They still had quite a bit of time before it would be Leon’s turn. The interminable waiting between each performance, especially when you had to wait for your scores, were always the most annoying part of performance day for Merlin.

When it was finally Leon’s turn, Merlin stood up and started to prepare himself because after Leon it was his turn. He did a few stretches.Even though he was trying his best to concentrate, he couldn’t help glancing at Arthur sitting on one of the benches, his eyes were closed and Merlin could have sworn it seemed like Arthur was praying. He had something in his hand that he was rubbing; it seemed to be some sort of pendant. Merlin had noticed him with it at trials. 

Arthur opened his eyes and caught Merlin staring. Their eyes met briefly, before Merlin awkwardly turned away, practically tripping over his feet as he raced to the chalk stand.

Leon got a very impressive score, 15.300, for the team.

Merlin noticed after the Olympic Trials the more nervous he was before an event, the better he performed. As he stepped onto the floor, he felt like he might jump out of his skin. Maybe that was a good sign. He took a deep breath and started. 

Everyone cheered after Merlin was done with his floor routine. He especially impressed everyone with a tumbling pass with a two and a half twist at the end, rebounding right into another complicated tumbling pass and sticking the landing. Everyone was all smiles. Merlin didn’t take it personally that Arthur was the only one not to congratulate him since he was getting ready for his performance. 

Merlin almost fell over when he looked up at the scoreboard and saw his score, 15.425. He’d never scored that high on an apparatus before. He couldn’t stop smiling as he put on his tracksuit bottoms and grabbed his bag. 

 

~*~

 

Arthur jumped in place a few times and blew out a few quick breaths. He was up next on pommel horse. It was never one of his favorite events and it was his lowest scoring events at this year’s World Championship. 

Gwaine had just performed and did an admirable job, though how he phrased it was "balls to the wall brilliance." After getting his score - 15.033 - he pumped his fist and kissed Percy on the mouth. Used to Gwaine's exuberance, Percy just smiled. 

Arthur watched Merlin as he waited. He didn't show any obvious signs of nerves, but Arthur could tell he must have been slightly agitated as he kept nervously looking at the camera in front of him warily. 

When Merlin got up to perform, Arthur could see him mumbling to himself. Arthur stood by what he’d said before about pommel horse not being Merlin’s best event, but he hoped that Merlin was not thinking about Arthur’s words at that moment.

Merlin started his performance and it seemed better than normal. His circles as he traveled the horse were very good. But his legs as he did a series of scissors that weren't as straight as they should be. It seemed to affect his confidence. As he swung up into a handstand, his legs bent forward slightly too far and Merlin struggled to hold the position. But his dismount was very good. 

Immediately, Arthur could tell that Merlin was disappointed. His eyes were clouded over and his customary smile was gone. Merlin sat down with a heavy sigh and started to remove his grips from his bag. 

Gwaine came over to Merlin and ruffled his hair. Lance put his arm around him and spoke encouragingly to Merlin. It wasn't a disastrous performance by any means, and it wasn't like it would hurt the team since they could drop the lowest score, but no one liked seeing Merlin looking down. Everybody loved him, and Arthur found himself feeling a little guilty for how he'd been treating Merlin. 

Arthur had no doubt that he would never arouse that kind of empathy or support from his teammates and it was his own fault. Arthur tried to put that out of his mind as he prepared for his performance. 

Merlin's score was a 14.633. 

Unlike Merlin, Arthur's performance was flawless. He started with a series of impressive scissors, excellent leg separation and swung up into a handstand with clean lines. Then he traveled up and down the horse doing perfect double leg circles, his legs straight and toes pointed. 

Putting his hands on the horse he did a 360 degree Wende swing with his legs straight behind him. He then concluded by gripping both pommels and doing a series of flairs, then swinging into a handstand to dismount. It was definitely the most impressive pommel horse of the day so far, and his scores reflected that with a 15.400.

As they walked to the next event - rings- Arthur walked behind Merlin and debated whether to approach him or not. Finally, making a decision he stepped forward and cleared his throat. 

“It wasn’t that bad.” 

Merlin did a double take. 

“When you’re doing the circles you have to try and remember not to start with your hips so high.” Merlin’s eyes were as wide as saucers as he continued to stare at him. Arthur decided to plow on anyway. “It doesn’t always work but when you start to panic, try and remember that you are in control. You know this routine like the back of your hand, and one mistake will not get the better of you.” Merlin’s stare was starting to get unnerving and Arthur looked at the ground. “Just for future reference.” He trailed off.

Merlin stopped gazing at Arthur blankly and shook his head. “Why...why are you trying to be helpful? I was under the impression that you think I just...” He looked to see that everyone else was out of earshot. “...magic all my problems away.”

“I never said-” Arthur pinched the bridge of his nose. “Look, I don’t know why I’m giving you any advice. You just looked so pitiful...”

Merlin sighed. “I don’t need your pity, Arthur. And I don’t need your advice. I can get through this without you or magic.” He walked away from Arthur as if his feet were on fire to the front of the line.

Arthur just pursed his lips tightly; he knew he deserved that. He wondered if he would ever get his jumbled feelings for Merlin under control.

 

~*~

 

Uncharacteristically, Lance was having a difficult time on rings. His movements just weren’t as sharp as they usually were. And there were several moves where he strained to keep the rings stable, and his holds were not as long as they should be. It wasn’t a bad performance - much better than many other competitors - but very average for Lance.

Merlin felt bad watching him struggle on an event that Lance had won Gold in during the last Olympics. Lance smiled when he walked back to the team, but Merlin could see it didn’t reach his eyes.

The team was surprised that after three events, not only were they second in their subdivision behind the US but that China was in last place. This just increased the pressure on the team as they headed to their next apparatus, the vault. 

Seemingly they had nothing to worry about since this was an event where team GB was one of the most dominant countries in the field. But as China’s poor performance so far was showing, things didn’t always go as expected.

Starting them off, this time, was Merlin. He chalked up his hands and closed his eyes, visualizing his vault. He stood at the end of the runway and had to wait for the judges to give him the green light to go on. 

His first vault would be the same one he nailed in podium training, a backward double in the pike position. Finally getting the green light, he spat into his hands and rubbed them together and took a deep breath. He took off down the runway, and once again got beautiful height in the air off the table. He didn’t stick the landing, but only had to take one step back. 

Immediately, he got into position for his second vault, while waiting for his first score. After getting that he completed his second vault, a handspring double front. This time, he stuck the landing. Both vaults were only a 6.0 difficulty level, but his almost flawless execution netted him a score of 15.830. 

Everyone was ecstatic for Merlin and the team. Percy, normally a lot more laid back, even clapped Merlin on the backside. Merlin let out a tiny yelp but laughed it off. 

Leon’s score wasn’t quite as high as Merlin’s - 15.549 - but still amazing. And they still had their best vaulter left to perform. They would end up having to drop a score most teams would kill to have. 

Merlin watched Arthur and even though he’d seen this time and time again, it still shocked him at how laser focused Arthur was right before he was set to vault. A train could have come hurtling through that arena and Merlin was sure Arthur would still be on whatever plane he went to before his performances.

Arthur performed the same two vaults he did at podium training. This time on his second vault, he got his body extended the way he wanted, but still took a giant step on the landing. But the difficulty level was so high, and the execution lacking any glaring errors except for the landing, he scored a 16.300. He would no doubt qualify for the vault finals.

Walking towards the next event, everyone was all smiles. Gwaine tried to get Percival to give him a piggyback ride and Percival almost fell over laughing. Merlin grinned watching them. They were so touchy-feely that sometimes Merlin wondered about the two of them.

They were still in second, but closing in on the Americans. Gaius always warned against overconfidence, so they tried not to let the vault scores go to their heads. But the crowd’s cheers, which seemed to be getting louder as the day wore on, spurred on their positive moods. 

Merlin could feel Arthur’s eyes boring into the back of his head, but he refused to look back. When a hand clapped him on the shoulder, for a second he feared it was Arthur, until he saw Gwaine’s smiling face. “So young Merlin, you’re having a very good day.”

Merlin smiled. “The team is having a very good day.”

“Yes, we are. But don’t be modest, Merlin. You’re on fire today.”

Merlin felt embarrassed for blushing at that, but his embarrassment just made him blush more. “Thanks.”

Gwaine threw his arm around Merlin’s shoulder. “With the way things are going, you have a really good shot at making it.”

“Making what?”

Gwaine furrowed his brow. “Merlin, are you having a laugh or purposefully being naive?” When Merlin just shrugged, Gwaine continued. “The All Around, mate. You could make it in.”

Merlin shook his head. “I don’t think so. It’s going to be Lance and Arthur, everyone knows that.”

“Yeah, and everyone knows most nights I’m drunk by 10 o’clock and shagging anything that moves, doesn’t mean some nights I don’t like to curl up with a cup of tea and some porn.”

Merlin’s eyebrows nearly shot up to his hairline. “You...drink tea while watching porn?”

“It relaxes me,” Gwaine explained as if the answer was obvious.

Merlin shook his head slowly. “Sometimes I don’t know whether to be disturbed or entertained by our conversations.”

Gwaine shrugged. “Why not both?”

Merlin burst out laughing. “And people say I’m weird.” Gwaine just grinned. “Anyway, getting back to your point....”

“Things aren’t always so predictable., especially not in this sport. Don’t count yourself out, Merlin,” Gwaine explained.

Merlin looked over to Lance, who seemed lost in thought. Lance had been having a slightly off day, but he would bounce back. It was Lance. 

It was true that not only were their scores incredibly close, but Merlin was actually ahead. But Merlin just wanted to take his mother’s advice and not worry or get his hopes up over something he just couldn’t see happening. He turned to Gwaine. “We still have the parallel bars and the high bars and those are two of Lance’s best events. I really don’t think he has anything to worry about.” 

And Merlin’s words seemed to have some truth to them after Lance performed on the parallel bars. Lance was the current World Champion on that apparatus and had his best performance of the day. Merlin had no doubt Lance would be equally good on the high bar. 

Merlin, however, was not disappointed. He had done better this competition than he had ever done before and felt he had really helped the team. 

After five events, team GB was now in first place. Now it all came down to one last event high bar. Merlin would be performing first then Lance and Arthur. 

Merlin chalked up his hands repeatedly and tried to concentrate on his performance. He obsessively tightened then re-tightened his grips. He took a deep breath and then was helped up onto the bar. 

He started with a kip, swinging his body forward into a half pike position, and then swinging his chest over the bar. He then did a few giant front swings, as he was swinging he opened his legs into a V-shape and tucked his legs into his body as he swung back. Swinging up into a handstand, he did a half pirouette. He did a few more giant front swings, then released the bar, getting up high enough in the air to have time to do a half twist with his body. Catching the bar he immediately swung into another release with a tight somersault. He finished with a few more full pirouettes, back swings, and another release. He did one more giant swing, then released the bar for his dismount, doing two and a half twists and landing perfectly. 

The crowd was cheering wildly and Merlin couldn’t help the broad smile that practically split his face open. Everyone on the team, except Arthur, were cheering as well and couldn’t wait to crowd him as he stepped off the mat. Even Arthur looked suitably impressed.

Merlin honestly felt like he could care less about the score. It was one of the most exhilarating times he’d ever had during a performance. He didn’t know why he felt so free up there, but he had and he definitely wanted to feel that way again. 

He knew when he heard the roar of the crowd that the score must have been good. It was a 15.566. Merlin smiled and even waved into the camera that had seemed to set up camp right in front of his face. He packed up his gym bag and stood to watch Lance’s performance. 

The last thing Merlin wanted to do was get ahead of himself and start thinking about the All-Around competition, but he couldn’t help overhear Gwaine and Percy talking. Lance would need a 15.634 to beat Merlin’s overall score. It was not an impossible score to reach. Lance’s level of difficulty - 6.0 - was the same as Merlin’s and Lance had gotten similar scores before. 

Trying not to let that niggle at his mind, Merlin focused on Lance. Lance’s high bar performance was great. He had smooth lines, good extension on his swings, good height during his release moves. He had a slight step on his dismount, but it was a very good job. 

Everyone’s eyes were on the scoreboard. Merlin tried not to glance up, but couldn’t help staring. He was staring so intently that he didn’t notice Lance come stand beside him until Lance put his hand on his shoulder. It was the kind of smile that put Merlin completely at ease and remember what was really important. Merlin returned the smile easily. 

Then both of their eyes drifted to the board. Lance’s face revealed nothing as the score appeared - 15.366. 

Merlin continued to stare at the board. No matter what Arthur’s score was Merlin would finish in the top two for their team. It wasn’t sinking it just yet for Merlin. In his first Olympics, he would have an actual shot at an individual gold medal. 

As Lance put his arms around Merlin’s neck and ruffled his hair, Merlin finally blinked and let out a surprised laugh.

 

~*~

 

Arthur stared unblinking up at Lance’s score. He knew that this was a possibility, but he was still stunned that Merlin had done it. Realistically, he knew this didn’t affect him. He was far enough ahead of both Merlin and Lancelot that he would have to screw up royally to not make the top two. But it was still a stunning development.

As Arthur waited to get his turn on the high bar, he watched everyone else congratulate Merlin. A part of him really wanted to go over there, but he didn’t trust himself not to say something stupid and he tried to stay in the zone for his performance.

Finally, it was Arthur’s turn. He gripped the bar tightly and did a few giant front swings before doing a handstand, then swinging back with his legs straight behind him at an angle. Then he did a few more front swings with a blind turn on the bars. He swung into a big release, twisting in the air with a half twist before gripping the bar again. Twisting around the bar with a full pirouette, he then did another big somersault release move, capping it off with a few more pirouettes. He swung back, releasing the bar briefly before catching it again and doing a couple more giant front swings. Finally, he swung off the bar with a double tuck somersault. He tried to hold his landing position but took a step to the side. 

Overall it was an excellent performance, but Arthur was aware that there were a few form issues during some of his swings, and his timing was off on one of his releases. He raised his arms and then bowed to the judges before stepping off the mat slowly. He worked on one of his grips while walking back to the team.

Arthur tried to appear nonchalant as he looked up at the scoreboard. Inside his guts were churning. He only needed a score of 14.198 to move ahead of Lance, and 14.466 to move ahead of Merlin. 

It felt like an eternity waiting for the score. He caught Lance’s eye briefly but refused to look at Merlin. Finally, his score came - 15.233. The crowd whooped and cheered. The cheers got even louder when it was revealed that Team GB was in first place. 

There was still one more subdivision, and five more teams to compete, but the team had assured a spot in the team finals. 

Everyone was ecstatic. Percy lifted Gwaine into a bear hug. Leon and Gaius were smiling and exchanged hugs as well. But Merlin was still looking at the scoreboard. After two subdivisions, Arthur was in first place, and Merlin was in fifth. They would definitely be competing in the All-Around final. 

Arthur was desperately trying not to think of magic and jumping to the worst possible conclusions. Merlin had done an amazing job, even when he had a tiny setback he persevered and had the performance of his life. But how much of that was real and how much was... Arthur lowered his head and closed his eyes, clenching his fists. He was aware that the cameras were probably swarming around him. But to them, it probably looked like he was trying to collect himself, and not seething with irrational bitterness. 

He opened his eyes and saw that Merlin had finally stopped looking at the scoreboard. Lance was hugging him now. Lance being Lance and wonderfully gracious, just made Arthur angrier. He started to walk towards the two of them. He had no idea what he was going to say. But he was well versed in how to fake civility for the camera; he was sure he could muster up a smile and shake Merlin’s hand. 

As he got closer, he stopped in his tracks. He could see Merlin’s intensely blue eyes filling with tears. As the tears started to spill, Merlin covered his face for a moment. Arthur was momentarily lost as a sharp stab of affection for Merlin washed over him. Merlin uncovered his face and their eyes met. 

Arthur swallowed thickly and croaked out, “C-congratulations.”

Merlin blinked back his tears and gave Arthur a beatific smile. “Thanks.”

Arthur still stood frozen as Merlin turned to look at the crowd and started waving. Merlin’s eyes and smile got impossibly bigger, and Arthur followed his gaze and saw Merlin’s mother waving, weeping openly, with a smile to match Merlin’s. 

More than anything, Arthur wanted to disappear and be anywhere but at the arena. His legs finally started working, but he didn’t take two steps before being accosted by an NBC reporter. He put on his practiced fake smile and dealt with the insipid questions.

To say the mood after the qualifications round was jubilant would be a gross understatement. Not only had the team made it to the finals - qualifying in first place - and Arthur and Merlin to the All-Around finals, but several of them had qualified for some of the individual events as well. 

Leon would be competing in the floor finals. Gwaine qualified for pommel horse and Lance for rings and the parallel bars event. Arthur and Merlin had both qualified for an impressive three events: Arthur would compete in rings, pommel horse, and vault. Merlin in the floor, high bar, and like Arthur, would be in the vault final. 

They were so close to making history. If they managed to medal in the team finals they would be the first British team to do so in over 100 years. It was an incredibly daunting challenge, but no one wanted to worry about that right now. All they wanted to do tonight was celebrate. 

Everyone made plans to have a few celebratory drinks and have a good time. Everyone except Arthur.

He knew that he must seem like the most ungrateful person on the planet right now, but he was in no mood for a celebration. It wasn’t just the situation with Merlin that was upsetting him. By almost anyone else’s standards, he’d had a brilliant day. He’d finished first individually and had a couple of career high scores on rings and vault. But he knew that being first in the individual rankings was basically meaningless since the scores were wiped clean and everyone got a fresh start in the finals. 

Not qualifying to compete in the high bar final stung as well since he was World Champion at that event. He was still making mistakes that he should have gotten a handle on by now. He had a lot to think about and process so he decided to beg off going bar hopping with his teammates. It was the best thing for everyone, he knew he would just bring everyone down with his sour mood. 

No one put up too much of a fuss when he declined to join them. Leon threw him an understanding, empathetic glance. Leon had known Arthur the longest and knew how Arthur got after a competition. He had learned to deal with Arthur’s perfectionism and other issues and not to take it personally. 

As everyone left the arena, Merlin briefly looked back at Arthur. He seemed conflicted, as if there was something he wanted to say but didn’t know how. What he was conflicted about, Arthur wasn’t sure. He assumed Merlin was still worried and thinking about Arthur knowing about his magic. 

After everyone headed out, Arthur went to the gym. He got a small workout in, hitting the heavy bag at the gym. A half hour later, he decided to take advantage of Merlin’s absence to spend some quality alone time in their room. He had barely even cracked open his copy of _Fever Pitch_ when there was a knock on the door. He wasn’t surprised when he opened the door and saw Gaius standing before him. 

“May I come in?” Gaius asked.

Arthur nodded, stepping aside to let Gaius through. “I know why you’re here and I’m perfectly fine, Gaius.”

Gaius rolled his eyes. “Arthur, I have been your coach for over twelve years. I know very well that you are not fine. I know the pressure your father has placed upon your shoulders. You’ve created such high standards that would be impossible for anyone to achieve. You can’t even let yourself enjoy any of this. Everyone else is out celebrating and you’re wallowing alone.”

“I’m sorry. I came here to win gold medals, not make friends, or go gallivanting around, partying all night.” Arthur sneered. 

“Of course, I don’t expect you to stay out all night. But, Arthur, I would think bonding with your teammates would be important. You’re team captain-”

“That was my father’s idea,” Arthur interrupted.

Gaius crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ve known me long enough Arthur to know that I don’t let your father talk me into anything that I don’t think is for the good of the team. Arthur, you’re one of the most gifted athletes I’ve ever worked with and you have a lot to teach some of the younger gymnasts.”

“Gaius…” Arthur scrubbed a hand across his face. “I don’t care about teaching anyone else. I just want to be here and practice and perform and do what I need to do to medal.”

Gaius frowned. “You used to care about your teammates. You used to love what you do. What happened?”

That look in Gaius’ eyes - disappointment and pity - was too much and Arthur turned away. “What do you think? My father needs me to be perfect at all times.”

Walking over, Gaius put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “You can’t expect perfection because I guarantee you that you will never be satisfied and always be disappointed if you keep thinking this way.”

Arthur’s cutting laugh held no joy only weariness and frustration. “I’m surprised at you, Gaius. There was a time when you were as demanding as my father. You pushed me to my limits and it never bothered me, because it made me better.” A part of him blamed Gaius for never truly reigning in his father’s expectations of Arthur. He turned back to look at Gaius and narrowed his eyes. “You’ve changed and I don’t like it. You’ve gone...soft. I don’t know if it’s old age. But now all you do is give boring speeches and pious lectures. I don’t know, perhaps it’s time to start thinking about retirement.” 

Arthur regretted it the instant he said it, but he refused to back down though he inwardly flinched at the brief look of hurt in Gaius’ eyes clenching his fists so hard. He practically drew blood from his nails painfully digging into his palms.

Gaius’ expression was resigned. “I understand the way that Uther has pushed you, but I still don’t understand your behavior the last few months. The way you’ve been treating Merlin-

Arthur barked out a vicious laugh. “And there it is. That’s what this is about, why you came here tonight. Merlin, the new wonder boy of gymnastics. Everything’s about him now, isn’t it?”

Gaius peered into Arthur’s eyes. “If anyone seems to have a preoccupation with Merlin, it’s you, Arthur.” 

Arthur opened and closed his mouth rapidly, unable to string together a coherent rebuttal.

“Why do you have a problem with Merlin?”

Arthur took a deep breath. “I...I don’t think he belongs here. He has certain...advantages that I think are unfair.”

Gaius quirked an eyebrow at Arthur and looked puzzled. “Advantages? Out of all of you, Merlin has the most disadvantages. What are you talking about, Arthur?”

“Nothing. Nevermind. You wouldn’t believe me anyway,” Arthur mumbled.

Gaius stepped closer to Arthur and looked at him closely. After a few moments of Gaius’ scrutiny, Arthur started to become uncomfortable and slipped away from Gaius, pacing the room. 

“Arthur, I know that Merlin has special...talents. But what exactly are you referring to?”

Arthur ran a hand through his hair pulling at his fringe. “Oh, I don’t know. Merlin has so many “special talents” I wouldn’t know where to begin. He has a special talent for getting under my skin and just generally being a royal pain in my arse. He has a special talent for tripping over his own feet regularly, and yet somehow starts competing and is the most graceful person I’ve ever seen. Or perhaps it’s his special talent for being able to stop time with his mind. Take your pick Gaius, but I think I’d go with that last one.”

Gaius looked genuinely dumbfounded. Arthur didn’t remember ever seeing Gaius look so shocked. It took the other man a few moments to respond. “How did you find out?”

Arthur stopped pacing and stared at Gaius. “‘How did you find out?’ I have to admit that wasn’t quite the response I was expecting. ‘Are you sure?’ ‘That’s not possible, magic’s not real!’, ‘Are you high?’ Something more along those lines.” He inched away from Gaius. “You...you knew all along!”

Gaius approached Arthur carefully. “Yes, I’ve known about Merlin’s magic for quite some time. I didn’t think-”

“No, you didn’t think, Gaius!” Arthur’s voice rose higher and higher as he started to pace again. “How could you not tell any of us? How could you let someone like that on our team?!”

Gaius grabbed Arthur’s arm and stopped him in his tracks. “Arthur, listen before you start speaking about things which you can’t possibly understand. I didn’t tell you or anyone else about Merlin’s magic because it was no one else’s business. Who Merlin chooses to tell, or not tell, is up to him. It doesn’t affect you in any way.”

"‘Doesn’t affect me?” Arthur hated how high-pitched and whiny his voice was sounding. “I think it does affect me and everyone else to be around someone who can manipulate things in any way he wants, without any of us knowing.” 

“You’re wrong, Arthur. Merlin would never use his gifts to cheat or get ahead in any way. He is the most trustworthy person I know. Arthur, I know what kind of things your father has probably told you about magic and those who possess it, and I understand why he feels the way he does, but you can’t take your cues from him on this. He has a bias against magic.”

“Why is that?” Arthur’s curiosity took over. “I’ve asked him why he hates magic so much and he refuses to tell me.”

Gaius looked down. “You’ll have to wait for your father to explain. It’s not my place to discuss it with you.”

“It’s not your place. It’s never your place, is it? Are there any other secrets you’re keeping from me?

“I understand why you feel betrayed, Arthur. But Merlin is family and I had to do what I thought was best for him.” Gaius sighed.

Arthur’s shoulders slumped, the fight leaving him. “Merlin’s family. And what am I then?” 

“Arthur, you know how I feel about you. I care about you just as much as I care for Merlin.”

“You could have fooled me.” 

Just then Merlin walked in the door. He was still smiling, the effects of a fun night obvious. But the smile left his face as soon as he saw Arthur’s face. “What’s going on?” His eyes were wide as he looked from Gaius to Arthur. 

“Just having a little discussion about betrayal,” Arthur stated matter-of-factly, taking a seat on his bed.

Gaius turned to Merlin. “I know that Arthur knows about your magic. He knows that I was aware of it as well.”

Merlin rushed forward to face Arthur. “Don’t blame Gaius for this. It’s my secret.”

Arthur’s laugh was bitter. “Oh, how sweet, perfect Merlin rushing to defend his uncle. I think I may start weeping at any moment.”

Merlin turned his gaze to Gaius. “Can you leave us to talk, please? We really need to settle things once and for all.”

“Are you sure?” Gaius looked between the two of them worriedly.

“Oh, come on Gaius. Wasn’t this the whole point of your forcing us into close proximity? Don’t get squeamish on us now. I won’t hurt your precious Merlin if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Merlin didn’t acknowledge Arthur’s last bitter statement; he just nodded quickly to Gaius.

Gaius nodded in return. He squeezed Merlin’s shoulder before heading for the door. After opening it, he turned to look at Arthur one last time. “I know you don’t believe this now, but I want what is best for both of you. Don’t do anything rash, Arthur.” 

Arthur refused to look at him again and Gaius closed the door with a heavy sigh.

 

~*~

 

Merlin knew this was the moment of truth and wished he was more prepared - and not as tipsy - to deal with it. He wasn’t quite sure what to say.

But before he could say a word, Arthur jumped off the bed and stalked over to him. “I only want to know one thing, Merlin. Have you ever cheated in competition before?"

Merlin took off his jacket slowly and looked at Arthur out of the corner of his eye. “Would it really matter if I said no? You wouldn’t believe me anyway.”

“Convince me.” Arthur shrugged. “I’m serious, Merlin. I’ll be honest; no I’m not inclined to believe you. But I need you to try and explain this to me in some way that I can understand. I don’t know anything about magic and I don’t know why I should believe that you wouldn’t use your “powers”, gifts, skills, whatever you want to call them, to your advantage.”

Merlin sighed and sat down on the floor beside his bed. Arthur hesitated briefly, before sitting down directly in front of him. 

“If I could use my magic to do whatever I wanted do you think I would allow my mum to work two jobs to help me get to where I am? Do you think I would have worked tirelessly every single day for the last thirteen years to get better, performing at any small competition that would have me so I could work my way up the ranks? Do you think I would have put up with any of your shite if I just snapped my fingers to get my way?” Merlin sighed a little in relief when Arthur actually chuckled a little at his last remark. “That’s not how my magic works.”

“How does it work?” Arthur asked with genuine curiosity and wonder.

Merlin let out a small laugh. “To be honest, I don’t know how it works exactly. I’ve been like this since as far as I can remember. Something inside me…just allows me to manipulate certain elements so I can move things with my mind, and create things, manipulate certain things...

“So you can...manipulate people to see whatever it is you want them to see? You can use your powers to your advantage?” Arthur asked, though his tone was less accusatory than normal.

Merlin sighed and nodded. “It really depends. Sometimes my magic does what I want it to, but other times it’s like it has a mind of its own. It can be really frustrating.” His smile was tentative. He still felt nervous and worried about what Arthur would do. Merlin cast his glance everywhere but at Arthur. “I was born this way, Arthur. I can’t get rid of these powers…and I don’t want to. Getting rid of them would be getting rid of a huge part of who I am and I like who I am. I’m a good person…just a little different.” 

Arthur looked down and said nothing for several minutes. 

Merlin fidgeted twisting his hands in his lap. Finally, he looked up at Arthur again. “Look, Arthur, I know you hate me-"

“Hey!” Arthur grabbed Merlin’s hand and looked into Merlin’s eyes with an intensity Merlin had only seen from him at a competition. “I do not hate you.” Arthur looked down at where their hands were joined and dropped Merlin’s hand as quickly as he had picked it up.

Merlin felt like an idiotic lovesick teenager, but couldn’t deny how his heart rate sped up when Arthur touched him and that he really wished that he was still holding on to a part of Arthur. Merlin rubbed at his eyes and tried to put such soppy sentiments out of his mind. So, Arthur didn’t hate him, that still didn’t mean he liked him. 

Merlin covered his emotions with a goofy grin. "That’s good to know.” He bit his lower lip. “I know you have no reason to, but I really need you to believe me. I care about this sport too much to ever disgrace it by doing something like cheating. I swear on my life I wouldn’t. Please believe me.”

Arthur took a deep breath and exhaled. “All right. I...I believe you. I know what my father says about magic, and I know he has his reasons. Even though he won’t tell me why,” Arthur muttered the last part under his breath. “But I believe that you’re a good person. If you say you’ve never cheated, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Though I’m still not entirely comfortable with the whole magic thing. It’s really...freaky.”

Merlin inhaled sharply at the word “freaky.” One of his biggest fears now about people finding out about his magic was how people would look at him afterward. He didn’t want anyone to be afraid of him or think he was some kind of freak that needed to be ostracized. 

“I’m not a freak!” He got up off the floor and walked to the other side of the room.

Arthur got up too and followed him. “I know. That’s not what I meant. It’s just going to take some getting used to. I’ve been so angry about it, thinking that you were using it unfairly, and now you’re telling me that you haven’t been, so I’m confused. I’ve never met anyone like you before. I don’t know what to think about it.” Merlin had his back turned to him and wasn’t saying anything. “Merlin?” Arthur slowly reached out his hand to touch Merlin’s shoulder. 

“Arthur!” Uther burst through the door just before Arthur’s hand made contact with Merlin.

Both boys whirled around in shock at the sudden intrusion. Arthur recovered almost immediately. He squared his shoulders and stepped towards his father. He looked like a soldier waiting for orders. “Yes, father?”

“You, leave us.” Uther didn’t bother to look in Merlin’s direction, but it was obvious that was who he was addressing.

Merlin bristled at Uther’s dismissive tone but didn’t think there was anything he could really do. Not only was he raised to respect his elders, no matter how much of a pompous git they may be, but Uther was someone who held tremendous power over his career. 

He started to leave but then stopped at the door. “Merlin.”

“What?” Uther only barely turned his head to acknowledge Merlin’s presence.

“My name is Merlin. Not you.” 

Uther’s eyebrow raised almost imperceptibly. 

Merlin quickly shut the door behind him. He knew that he should just go to Lance’s room, or even Gwaine’s until Uther and Arthur were finished. But something, he wasn’t sure if it was the almost wild look in Uther’s eyes or the way Arthur’s entire demeanor shifted in his father’s presence, made him stick around just outside the door. 

He tried not to eavesdrop, but occasionally Uther’s voice rose enough that words, and sometimes phrases, could be made out. The word “failed” was repeated and “not good enough” also recurred. Merlin flinched when he heard the word “disappointment” uttered by Uther with such scorn. 

There were several minutes after that he heard nothing, then he heard footsteps quickly approaching the door and Merlin moved away from the door as fast as possible. Merlin held his gaze to the floor, and when Uther exited the room, Merlin only spared one look at Uther. 

Uther’s face was a blank slate. He didn’t register surprise at Merlin still being there. He just looked straight ahead and walked away.

Merlin waited a few minutes outside, not really sure what to expect when he went back inside. When he returned to the room, he saw that Arthur was seated on his bed, looking down at the floor. 

Staring at Arthur’s profile, Merlin debated what to do. He and Arthur had only just reached a tentative truce. He was sure that any words of comfort from him would be rebuffed, but Merlin couldn’t imagine just ignoring what happened. 

After a few more seconds of loitering by the door, Arthur looked up at him and rolled his eyes. “Stop thinking so hard Merlin, you’re giving me a headache.”

Merlin pursed his lips. “Sorry. Are you-"

“I’m fine. I can certainly handle my father. Didn’t say anything I haven’t heard before,” Arthur mumbled.

Merlin shrugged; he didn’t want to let this go, but he wouldn’t push Arthur. He headed over to the bathroom. “I’m going to get ready for bed.” He opened the bathroom door, but before he could cross the threshold, he turned back. “I did hear what you were saying before. I know that this is going to take some getting used to. I appreciate you making the effort.”

Arthur swallowed, before looking up at Merlin with a grin. “Thank you for saying that.”

Merlin nodded. As he turned around, Arthur called out to him. 

“Merlin?” He looked over at Arthur. “I don’t think I’ve ever really seen anyone talk to my father like you did.” He had a slight smile on his face that quickly turned into a frown. “You might want to think better of it next time. Trust me, you do not want to get on his bad side.”

Merlin nodded and then grinned. “Why, Arthur, I didn’t know you cared.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop a small smile from gracing his face.

When Merlin emerged from the bathroom, Arthur had the bedside lamp on and was reading. Merlin got into bed and looked over at Arthur. “Are you going to bed soon?”

“Is there a reason you need this information? Are you waiting for me to go to sleep so you can,” Arthur glanced at Merlin’s lower half, “take care of something? You should have taken care of that when you were in the shower.”

Merlin’s eyes bulged and he was starting to turn an interesting shade of red. “Th-th-that’s not why I was asking. I just wanted to know when you were going to turn the light off. It’s a little annoying trying to sleep with it on.”

“It’s not that bright, Merlin,” Arthur grinned, there was a wicked gleam in his eye. “Kind of like you.”

Merlin let out a mocking laugh. “You’re so funny. Just turn it off soon, please.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Arthur turned, giving his back to Merlin.

Merlin sighed and flopped onto his pillow. Arthur was impossible and annoying, but Merlin was really starting to remember why he had had such a crush on him.

A few hours later, Merlin could feel the sun on his face. He groaned. _Why did morning have to come so fast?_ He rubbed at his eyes and stretched. 

Turning over, he was surprised to see that Arthur was still asleep. He noticed that the bedside lamp was still on and staggered out of bed to turn it off. 

After turning off the lamp, he turned to look down at Arthur and had to stifle a laugh. Arthur’s hair was stuck up in several different places, and his mouth was open, a little drool dribbling from his left side. He’d never seen Arthur look so disheveled - and so cute. 

_Beep-beep-beep-beep!_ The alarm on Arthur’s cell phone went off. 

While the alarm wasn’t exceptionally loud, it was so sudden that it startled Merlin. To Merlin’s horror, as he tried to flee, his two left feet propelled him forward and he landed awkwardly on top of Arthur. 

Merlin got his bearings as quick as possible and looked up. He was shocked - and relieved - to discover that Arthur had not woken up. Merlin leaned his weight onto the hand by Arthur’s head and slowly eased up. It was at that moment that Arthur’s eyes flickered open. 

Like a deer in the headlights, Merlin froze even though his mind was screaming for him to make a mad dash away from the bed. “Uh...”

Arthur took a few seconds to focus on Merlin. He jumped back. “Merlin, what the hell are you doing?”

Merlin stood up too fast, almost falling over again. “Uh, this is not what it looks like - at all.” 

Arthur just blinked up at Merlin, waiting for an explanation. 

“Uh, the light...on...so I....” He made a vague gesture towards the lamp.

“Thanks for clearing that up,” Arthur said with obvious sarcasm. “Let’s just hope you recover more brain cells as the day wears on.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. He marveled that Arthur was not up thirty seconds and was already on to his first insult of the day. “Look, I told you about turning off the light last night, but obviously, you didn’t listen and left it on all night. So I was just turning it off.”

“What is your obsession with the light? You’re not paying the bill, Merlin.”

“That doesn’t really matter. It’s wasteful. So I turned it off. That’s when you woke up. I swear that’s all I was doing.”

Arthur put his hand up to stop Merlin from talking. “While the image of you looming over me like a demented gargoyle will haunt me for some time, there was very little harm done. Don’t get yourself worked up.”

“How magnanimous of you,” Merlin retorted, quickly looking away, still embarrassed. He walked away as fast as his feet would carry him. Walking towards the bathroom, he glanced over his shoulder. “I’m taking a shower first. I may or may not save you some hot water.” 

He closed the door behind him as soon as he finished speaking. He leaned against the door, letting out a low groan. “Get a grip, Merlin. He is still a pompous, mean, arrogant, condescending wanker,” he muttered to himself. A wanker with gorgeous blue eyes, his mind treacherously added. “Ugh!” Merlin threw up his hands in disgust and turned on the shower. 

Perhaps more of a cold shower was necessary this morning.

Even though he knew he didn’t have anything to be embarrassed about, Merlin couldn’t make eye contact with Arthur as he came out of the bathroom. Not that Arthur seemed to notice. He adjourned to the bathroom while Merlin was putting on his shoes. Arthur seemed to take no time at all getting ready and they soon made their way to the gym.

When they arrived, they immediately separated. Merlin said hello to Kilgharrah and Gwaine, while went to the benches near the high bar and started preparing to practice

Merlin couldn’t help watching Arthur throughout the day, especially when Arthur started practicing his vaults. Though he would never admit this to Arthur, watching him was truly a sight to behold. His strength running down the runway was amazing as was the ferocity with which he hurled himself off the springboard.

But the truly staggering part was watching the height Arthur got. It was powerful and graceful and almost superhuman. It was truly stunning.

Unfortunately, Arthur didn’t seem nearly as proud of what he could do. Despite Arthur’s usual bravado, he was his harshest critic.

Merlin’s eyes drifted over to Uther, who had been scrutinizing Arthur all day from a distance. Actually, he was Arthur’s harshest critic. He never even approached Arthur all day. Without saying a word, his withering stare after everything Arthur did was enough to shake anyone’s confidence.

When he felt someone squeeze his shoulder he jumped, he didn’t realize how focused he had been on watching Arthur. He turned and saw that Lance had joined him. Merlin smiled at his friend and teammate. “How’s Gwen?” Merlin asked.

Lance showed up later than everyone else because he was at the gym next door watching his girlfriend, Gwen Lawrence, practicing. She was a member of Great Britain’s women’s gymnastics team. She and Lance had been together since they were teenagers. 

Merlin was sure that if you looked up “perfect couples” in the dictionary, you would see a picture of those two. And what a stunning picture it would be! They were both so striking. Merlin remembered how tongue tied and flustered he got when he first met Gwen.

“She’s great. I had to leave - she demanded it really - because I was distracting her while she was on the balance beam. It’s probably for the best. No matter how many times I see her do it, I still get so nervous. I’m so glad we don’t have to do that event.”

Merlin chuckled. “Me, too. I have balancing issues just walking on the ground.”

Lance laughed.

They both soon turned their attention to Arthur. He had just had another perfect landing. 

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Lance said as he walked up to Merlin, his eyes glued to Arthur as he got ready to try his second vault.

Merlin smiled at Lance and nodded. “Yeah.”

Lance clapped him on the shoulder. “There’s no need to be jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.” Merlin sighed. “I’m sad.”

Lance crossed his arms over his chest and cocked his head to the side. “Sad?”

“For Arthur. He’s an amazing gymnast. He can do things that I’ve never seen anybody do, but he can’t enjoy what he’s doing because of his father. No matter what he does it’s not enough for the almighty Uther Pendragon.”

Merlin turned and glared at the man. He knew it wasn’t wise, but it wasn’t as if Uther was paying attention to any of the rest of them. 

“I understand that our parents sometimes push us because they want us to fulfill our full potential, but it’s different with him. It feels like he’s punishing Arthur. He’s looking for any excuse to find fault. That’s not fair to Arthur.” At the end of his rant, he found that he was gripping his hands together so hard that it was starting to hurt. He separated his hands and placed them behind his back. He could feel Lance’s gaze on him and turned to glance at him. 

Lance had a small, knowing smile on his face.

“What?”

“Gaius is a genius.” He chuckled. “You and Arthur have gotten closer, haven’t you?”

“C-closer?” Merlin scoffed. “No. I wouldn’t say we’re closer. We’ve reached a truce of sorts. A very tentative truce. He’s still an insufferable prat.”

Lance held up his hands, but that smirk didn’t leave his face. “Whatever you say.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Don’t say it like that. I’m serious. I don’t like Arthur.”

“Funny, I never said anything about you liking Arthur.” Lance started to back away. “Perhaps your subconscious is speaking for you.”

“You’re a wanker,” Merlin said with little force.

The sound of Lance’s laughter trailed after him as he went to start practicing. Merlin felt so silly. His face felt hot and with a nervous laugh, he rubbed the back of his neck. He hoped he wasn’t so transparent to everyone - especially Arthur.

Merlin was about to turn around and focus on the task at hand, but he couldn’t help throwing one more glance to Arthur. To his embarrassment, Merlin let out a slight squeak when he saw Arthur was staring at him. Merlin quickly turned away and took in a deep breath. “Get a grip, you idiot,” he muttered to himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Gaius wanted to get everyone together for dinner so they could relax before the competition the next day. It was too crowded in the cafeteria at the Olympic Village and he wanted a little more privacy, so they all went to have a quick dinner at a local Italian restaurant.

If he could have, Arthur would have begged off attending the dinner. While Gaius didn’t make attendance mandatory, Arthur didn’t want to make it seem like he was trying to separate himself from the rest of the group. He hoped to just have a quiet dinner with his teammates and...friends?

He’d never really thought about whether they were true friends or not. Other than Leon, Arthur never spent much time with any of them when he went back to his “normal” life. And even with Leon, they only got together once in a blue moon. 

As kept happening all day, Arthur’s gaze fell to Merlin and lingered there. Merlin, Gwaine, and Lancelot were looking at their menus and laughing. Arthur didn’t know what could be so humorous about a menu, but laughter seemed to follow whenever the other members of the team got together.

Even though things had just started to thaw between them, Arthur was surprised to consider that he could really see Merlin as a friend...maybe even more than that. Stroking his hands up and down his thighs, Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath, trying to get his feelings under control.

The dinner was great and everyone was in high spirits. Gaius told stories about his favorite routines of each of them. Leon impressed them all with his odd secret talent of playing the spoons. Gwaine was constantly making inappropriate jokes that made Mordred blush. 

After they had dessert Lance stood up, clinking a fork against his glass.

Lance cleared his throat. “I just wanted to say that I couldn’t be happier embarking on such a historic journey with, and no matter what happens tomorrow, I wanted to let you know I couldn’t ask for better teammates.”

Looking around, Arthur could see that everyone was incredibly moved. Even Gaius looked close to tears.

“Stop, stop.” Gwaine waved his hand. “You’re going to make me sob like a little girl.” 

His chuckle was weaker than normal, and despite his jovial tone, Arthur could see that Gwaine’s lower lip was starting to tremble.

“Because of that, I wanted you lot to be the first to know that this will be my last Olympics. Gwen and I are retiring. We’re getting married.”

This was met with brief silence. Arthur blinked up at him. It’s not there wasn’t an inkling that this could happen. Lance was the oldest out of all of them. He was 28 and Gwen was 24 getting close to the age where most women gymnasts tend to retire. Also, they all knew marriage between them was inevitable - it was just surprising it took this long. It made sense they’d want to retire together and settle down. It didn’t make the news any less sad.

After the shock passed, immediately everyone got up to hug and congratulate Lance. Merlin was first and they shared a big hug. 

Arthur waited until everyone else had their turn and offered Lance his hand. Lance gave him a warm smile and bypassed his hand, embracing him instead.

Stiffening at first, Arthur was too caught off guard to return the hug. Finally, after a few seconds, he gave Lance’s back a few awkward pats and stepped away.

“Congratulations. I wish you and Gwen every happiness.” Arthur said sincerely, his voice sounding robotic even to his ears.

“Thank you, Arthur.”

Arthur turned to leave but turned back abruptly. He and Lance had never been great friends, but he’d always respected him. He cleared his throat. “Uh...I know that I’m officially this team’s captain but I think we all know that it should have been you. You’re the heart of this team and we’re not going to be the same without you.”

Lance closed his eyes for a second and put his hand to his heart. “That means a lot to me, Arthur.” He put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder and squeezed. “Despite what you might think, I believe you make a fine captain.”

Not knowing what to say, Arthur just bowed slightly and turned around. As soon as he looked up he saw Merlin, who had a big grin and watery eyes.

Knowing Merlin must have heard what he said, Arthur could feel his face flush and he rushed past Merlin.

He left without saying anything to the others. Arthur practically sprinted back to the Olympic village. Hoping to be in bed by the time Merlin came back, Arthur hurriedly got ready for bed, skipping brushing his teeth and stripping out of his black sports coat, black pants, and red sweater.

Unfortunately, Merlin must have left right after he did because he came into the room right as Arthur just as Arthur was about to put on a t-shirt.

Merlin paused just inside and looked at Arthur’s chest and then back up at Arthur’s face. Arthur didn't miss the way his Adam’s Apple bobbed. He couldn’t really concentrate on that since he was still feeling embarrassed about what Merlin overheard.

Hesitantly, Merlin stepped inside and walked towards his bed. Arthur put his shirt on.

“Getting ready for bed?”

Arthur saw Merlin winced as soon as he said it.

“Nothing gets by you, Merlin.” Arthur pulled back the sheet. He could feel Merlin’s eyes on him.

“You didn’t miss much after you left. Everyone said their goodbyes and left. Gaius dropped us all off. I just can’t believe that in a few hours I get to compete in my first Olympic finals. I'm really nervous.”

Arthur turned to him for a quick moment. “I’m sure you’ll do fine.” He got in bed and turned on the bedside light. Merlin glanced at it with a wary expression. Arthur rolled his eyes. “Don’t worry. I’ll turn it off before I go to sleep.”

Merlin just shrugged and sat on his bed and started to take off his shoes. He kept throwing surreptitious glances toward Arthur.

Pretending to look at his phone, whose battery had died, Arthur kept trying to ignore Merlin but he got sick of Merlin’s scrutiny. Pinching the bridge of his nose, Arthur sat up in bed. He didn’t want to bring up the subject, but he had a feeling Merlin would just keep staring at him if he didn’t say something.

With a weary sigh, Arthur faced Merlin. “Look, I know you heard what I said to Lance so just say what you need to say and get on with it.”

Merlin bit his lip and played with his shoe. “I don’t know if I should. You and I have a shaky truce at best and I don’t want to say anything and you lose it on me.”

Arthur shook his head and chuckled despite his apprehension. “I promise I won’t “lose it” on you.” 

After scrutinizing Arthur’s face, Merlin seemed to decide he could trust him on that and he scooted to the edge of the bed and leaned toward Arthur. “Yes, I heard what you said and I thought it was really...beautiful. It was nice to see you reaching out instead of keeping yourself separate from everyone. I wish you could be that way more often.” Merlin didn't take a breath while he said all that and let out a big breath when he was done.

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Is that all?”

“I know you might not believe this, but everyone - yes, even Gwaine - respects you so much. If you just opened yourself up more, it could be so much more than that, and this whole experience could be so much better.” Merlin opened his mouth and then closed it again. He sighed. “That’s all.”

"Wow.” Arthur rubbed a hand over his eyes. “You wonder why I don’t do anything nice more often. You can’t just accept the moment for what it was, you have to push for more.”

“Arthur…”

“No. Why exactly do you think that you’re…” Arthur cut himself off. He was doing exactly what he promised Merlin he wouldn’t. He could feel his anger was starting to take over his mouth and was about to say something he might regret. Closing his eyes, Arthur inhaled deeply.

He exhaled and opened his eyes. Suddenly, everything went dark again. It took Arthur a few moments to realize he hadn’t closed his eyes again. “What’s going on?”

“I think the power went out,” Merlin said. His voice sounded far away.

Looking around the darkened room, Arthur could feel his chest tighten and his breathing started to pick up. 

“Ow!” He heard Merlin exclaim followed by the sound of his shuffling feet.

When he heard the door open, Arthur panicked. “Merlin?!”

The door closed with a soft click. “Yeah, the whole hall is dark. I couldn't see any lights outside the window either.”

“How could that happen? Shouldn’t they be prepared for something like this? Why aren’t the lights back on?”

“I don’t know how. I’m sure they’ll have it fixed very soon. They must have generators and all that.”

Arthur whipped his covers off and stumbled out of bed. “There has to be a light somewhere.” Arthur could hear how high- pitched his voice sounded but didn’t care. “Your phone?”

“My-my phone? What about it?” Merlin sounded anxious.

“The light. Turn it on and there will be some light.” Even though he was panicked, irritation was still clear in his voice.

“I don’t even know where my phone is. It doesn’t matter, it’s dead.”

Arthur growled. He was panting in earnest now.

“You don’t sound so good, Arthur.” Merlin’s voice sounded closer now, but Arthur couldn’t see anything in the complete darkness.

“Am I imagining this or do you sound really weird right now?” Merlin chuckled. “You’re not afraid of the dark, are you?”

Even if he wanted to answer him, Arthur wasn’t sure if he could with how dry his mouth felt. Arthur held out his hands in front of him and took a few halting steps forward. “I have to open the blinds. There must be light outside.”

“Arthur, I told you -”

“I don’t care!” Arthur screeched. “I can’t…” He hit his foot against something hard - probably the foot of one of their bed’s - and stumbled to the ground. “Damnit!”

“Arthur, what happened?” The panic in Merlin’s voice started to match Arthur’s. “You really don’t sound well. Can you just stop breathing like that?”

“Don’t you think I’m trying?” Arthur shakily got to his feet. He could feel how harsh his breathing sounded, but he felt like he couldn’t suck in enough air and was starting to feel light-headed.

“Maybe I should go and try and get some help?”

“No!” Arthur screamed. He tried to feel his way in front of him and walk toward where he thought he heard Merlin’s voice. “Don’t leave me!”

“O-okay,” Merlin whispered. He sucked in a breath. “Just stay where you are. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.” He laughed. “I don’t want you to get a swelled head or anything, but you’re the best on the team. If you break your ankle or something, then that’s it. It’s over and we won’t win gold. Think of what your father, would say.”

“If you’re…” Arthur panted between each word. “Trying...to get me...to stop panicking.” Arthur put a hand to his chest. Every word was a struggle. “Bringing up...my father...is not helping.” 

When Arthur felt a hand on his arm, he yelped.

“It’s alright, it’s alright. It’s just me,” Merlin said in a soothing voice.

“I can’t stay like this, Merlin. I can’t - I can’t breathe. I think I’m going to faint.” He could feel Merlin almost standing on his toes and Arthur reached out and gripped Merlin’s arm.

“It’s going to be okay. I’m going to help you, Arthur, I promise. Just look straight ahead.”

Arthur shook his head. “Why?”

“ _Leohte_ ,” Merlin whispered.

Suddenly, there was a bright light in front of Arthur. When he looked down and saw that the light was hovering just above Merlin’s outstretched right hand, Arthur jumped. He looked from the light to Merlin and back again. “You did that.”

Merlin looked down and gave a slight nod. “I know a few small spells. I can heat up tea or coffee fairly easily as well.” His light chuckle came out strangled. He peered up at Arthur. “Did it help at all?”

Given that his breathing was starting to slow down, Arthur would definitely say not being in the dark was helping. The cause of the light being magic only slightly unsettled Arthur. He was fascinated, and grateful, more than anything. “It has.”

Merlin reached over and wiped some sweat from Arthur’s brow.

Arthur frowned. “I suppose we’re even now.”

Merlin’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean?”

“I know your secret and now you know one of mine. I’m a big girl who is afraid of the dark.”

“Arthur, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being afraid of the dark. I’m afraid of spiders.” Merlin grinned. “So, I guess we’re not even anymore.”

Arthur stared at Merlin. Once again, he realized how wrong he had been to judge Merlin simply for having magic.

“Let’s sit down.” Merlin took Arthur’s hand and led him towards Merlin’s bed. 

Arthur was transfixed by the small, round ball of light which was still hovering above Merlin’s hand as they walked. As they sat down, Merlin whispered something else Arthur didn’t catch, and the light floated from Merlin’s hand to just in front of the both of them. 

Arthur gasped when he saw Merlin’s eyes. “Your eyes…” The first time he’d seen Merlin do magic, he’d seen Merlin’s eyes glowing, but it had been from a distance. Seeing it up close was very different. He was taken by how beautiful his eyes looked like that. 

“It looks weird, doesn’t it?” Merlin sounded self-conscious.

“I think gold looks good on you.” Arthur decided to answer truthfully.

Merlin blushed. “Thank you. Hopefully, when this is over, I have something that’s gold other than my eyes.”

Arthur grinned. “Let’s hope so.”

Rubbing the back of his neck, Merlin looked down and cleared his throat. When he looked up, with his head he gestured toward Arthur’s bed. “I suppose this is why you constantly sleep with the light on.” 

Arthur nodded. “Yes. Leon is the only one who knows about my fear of the dark and it’s one of the reasons we always room together.”

“You could have told me.” 

Arthur sighed. “I didn’t know if I could trust you. I thought you would have teased me about it. And I know it would have served me right.”

“I would never do that to you. You can trust me, Arthur.” He sounded so sincere and in that moment Arthur knew without a doubt that he could.

“I know.” Arthur avoided Merlin’s gaze because he just couldn’t handle the emotions he was feeling right now.

Merlin cleared his throat. “How long have you had this fear of the dark?”

Arthur picked at the bedspread. “Since I was seven. I got really bored during a French lesson…”

“You were taking French lessons when you were seven?” Merlin interrupted.

“Yes.” It had never occurred to Arthur that might be weird. “Is that odd?” 

“I suppose not.”

“Anyway, I got bored and went exploring the third floor of our house, which my father had told me was forbidden. I went to a bedroom up there and went into this incredibly small closet. Somehow the door closed behind me and when I tried to get out the door wouldn’t budge. I screamed for...God, I don’t know how long. My father didn’t find me up there for five hours. So, yeah, I’ve had a slight phobia of the dark ever since.”

“I can understand why.” Merlin shuddered. “Sounds like a complete nightmare.”

Arthur looked up at the ceiling and pursed his lips. “It wasn’t _completely_ unpleasant. One of the reasons I went up there was because my father kept all of my mother’s things on that floor. He didn’t want me touching them because he thought I would ruin them somehow. I noticed a few dresses in the closet, that’s why I went in there. After screaming and...crying,” Arthur mumbled the last part, “I gathered a few of them and slept on them. I know it sounds silly, but I swear I could smell what my mother must have smelled like. It was this really strong, sweet perfume.”

“I don’t think that’s silly at all.” Merlin got a faraway look in his eye. “My mother doesn’t talk about my father much either. For my sixteenth birthday, she gave me an old leather jacket of my father’s. I wore it every day for a year and the first time I put it on I sniffed the collar and I knew it must have been my father’s scent. It smelled like Old Spice.”

The sheepish grin Merlin flashed when he stared up at him melted Arthur inside. It was the first time he really got to talk about his mother with someone - the first time he allowed himself to - and having Merlin not look at him with pity and actually be able to empathize was so gratifying Arthur thought he would cry. For a second, he wished that there was no light in the room.

“Did your father ever give you anything of your mum’s?” Merlin asked.

“After I won my first major competition at fifteen, he gave me the only Gold medal she’d ever won - it was at the World Championship and it was for the vault.” Arthur would always remember that moment. His father had tears in his eyes - it was the only time he’d seen his father so vulnerable. “He also gave me a good luck charm of hers. It was a pendant that used to belong to my grandmother.”

Merlin nodded. “I think I’ve seen you with it. I always wondered what it was.”

A sad smile stretched across Arthur’s face. “I always take it out and try and think of my mother and remember why I do all of this in the first place.”

“Does it work?” 

Arthur sighed. “At first. Unfortunately, it hasn’t worked in a long time. Every time I try and think of my mother it only lasts for as long as it takes me to get ready to perform and then I start thinking of my father and everything he expects of me.”

“I can tell.” Merlin looked down and wrung his hands. “I’ve watched tapes of you. When you were younger there was this light in your eyes when you performed. It was exhilarating to watch. You’re still amazing to watch, but now, that light is gone and it’s like you-”

“I’m just playing to win?”

Merlin bit his lip and didn’t answer.

“I know.” Arthur sat back heavily against Merlin’s pillow. “It’s not just about my father. I found out a couple of years ago that my mother could have gone to the Olympics, but she got pregnant with me and decided not to. She didn’t want to hurt me. She thought she had more time, except then I killed her.”

“Arthur, you didn’t kill her,” Merlin said with conviction. He scooted closer to Arthur and put his hand on Arthur’s knee.

“She died giving birth to me. If I hadn’t been born, she’d still be here. I don’t know how else to think of it.” Arthur choked out and looked away. His vision was blurry and his chest started to tighten. “I owe it to her to fulfill this dream that I took from her.”

“Arthur…” Merlin pleaded. “Arthur, please look at me.”

Arthur turned towards him but didn’t meet his eyes. 

“If your mother was anything like mine, she would say you don’t owe her anything but just to do your best and be happy. Perhaps it’s not for me to say, but I think your mother would have wanted you to be happy and not blame yourself for something you had no control over.” Merlin took in a shaky breath. “And can I say, a bit selfishly, that I’m glad you’re here in this world.”

The heartfelt emotion in Merlin’s voice startled Arthur and he gazed up at Merlin.

“I think the world would be a darker place without you in it.”

As if on some kind of cue, the lights in the room suddenly came back on. 

The lights in the room were unnecessary - Merlin’s smile in that moment could have lit up the whole room. “I think that can be taken as a positive sign, don’t you?”

Arthur laughed in spite of himself. “Maybe.” Arthur shook his head before standing up. “Right now, I’m just going to take it as a sign that we should be going to bed.”

Merlin opened his mouth, and Arthur could tell he wanted to push the issue, but he soon pressed his lips together and backed away. 

When Merlin whispered again, the light he’d created before dissipated. He got ready for bed quickly and they were both under their respective covers five minutes later. 

Merlin glanced at the bedside lamp. “I won’t say anything about it again.”

“I appreciate that,” Arthur grinned.

“Arthur?”

He turned his head. “Yes?”

“Will you please just think about what I said?”

Arthur gazed up at the ceiling and grinned. “Which part? Lecturing me about opening myself up more or...the part about my mother?”

Merlin dragged his teeth across his bottom lip. “All of it?”

Arthur chuckled. He couldn’t find it in him to find Merlin’s presumptuousness annoying. “Fine.”

“Thank you. I just want you to be happy.” Merlin lay back. 

Arthur stared at him with wide eyes. Not many people said things like that to him and actually meant it. “Merlin?”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, too.”

Smiling, Merlin turned to him and just nodded.

When he turned to look up at the ceiling, Arthur reflected on the day and thought about how this day ended and began very similarly - with Merlin surprising him. Waking to Merlin on top of him was shocking, but Arthur could admit to himself not entirely unpleasant. 

But what happened after the power outage was the best surprise of all. He had distrusted Merlin because of his magic, but thanks to Merlin’s magic light, and Merlin’s gentleness and understanding, Arthur truly believed he could trust him. Merlin was a true friend and the thought warmed Arthur all over.

 

~*~

 

Merlin woke up and blinked up at the ceiling. His mind was immediately focused and he knew exactly what today was, and how much was at stake. Slowly turning onto his side, Merlin wasn’t surprised to see that Arthur was awake as well. 

They didn’t say anything to each other, just stared into each other’s eyes for a minute. When they got up, they dressed in silence. It wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Merlin knew they had a lot on their mind.

He checked his cellphone and his mother had sent him a simple text saying she loved him. A lump formed in his throat.

Merlin knew he needed to just relax and try to treat the competition as any other, but he couldn’t help but focus on everything that was at stake. The only time he smiled all morning was when he got to the arena and spotted his mother in the stands. He waved and smiled, though he felt it was more of a grimace than a true smile.

Looking around at everyone as they tested out the various equipment, Merlin could tell that most of them were experiencing the same butterflies he was feeling, even Lance.

Gaius gathered them all around. “I know I don’t need to say this but I just want you all to know how proud I am of all of you. No matter what happens here today you have represented your country with great honor and truly shown that this country has produced some of the finest athletes and gentlemen in the world.”

Everyone clapped. 

Gaius threw a short glance Arthur’s way but didn’t say anything to him as the group started to disband. 

“Wait!” Arthur suddenly yelled.

Everyone turned to him. Merlin stared at him expectantly. Arthur looked as nervous as anyone, but he had a determined look in his eye.

“I’m not really great with speeches, but I just wanted to say that it has been an honor to be on this team with all of you. You’re all amazing talents and even if we don’t win…” He trailed off and looked around him.

Merlin gulped. He hoped Arthur hadn’t lost his nerve.

Arthur shook his head. “Sod that.”

Leon and Lance shared a startled look. Gwaine slowly started to smile. Merlin just watched Arthur with rapt attention.

“We came here to make history. Most of the people in this audience came to see us make history and we’re not going to disappoint them. I’ve been accused of having a healthy ego and you know why that is?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “It’s because I know that I’m the best and, all of you, you’re even better. So let’s show everyone what the best team here can do!” 

He looked about as confident as Merlin had ever seen him and that was saying a lot.

Merlin was beaming from ear to ear. He always knew Arthur could be a prat, but for once he was putting his prattishness to good use. Looking around at his teammates, Merlin could see everyone roused by Arthur’s speech and the pride Arthur felt for his team, and especially for Arthur, was immeasurable.

“You’re fucking right, Pendragon.” Gwaine clapped Arthur on the shoulder.

Arthur looked relieved that for once Gwaine used his actual name instead of calling him “princess.”

Leon smiled. “Absolutely!”

Lance clapped his hands together. “What are we waiting for then? These people,” he glanced around at the audience, “came to see an amazing display, so let’s give them one.”

All of them pumped their fists in the air and shared confident smiles. They were soon led over to the area for the first event, floor.

Nothing had really changed since the qualifying round - everyone is set to perform the same routines on the same apparatuses, they performed on in that round. Since team GB was in first they would be starting off on the floor. They would follow Russia’s team. 

Just like before Lance started them off on floor delivering an amazing performance, even better than the previous round and his score of 15.400 reflected that. It was the best he’d done at that event in ages.

After he got his score, he pointed to Arthur and they exchanged jubilant smiles. It continued in that vein for the rest of the event. Lance and Merlin had excellent routines with the scores to match. Merlin felt completely exhilarated after he stepped off the floor and he truly felt like he had Arthur to thank for that.

Everyone congratulated Merlin after he got his scores. He found Arthur seated on the bench and sat down next to him. “If I’m not mistaken, I would swear that you actually took what I said to heart last night.”

Arthur leaned over and rummaged through his gym bag. “I wouldn’t say that’s entirely inaccurate.”

Merlin tapped his finger against his chin. “So...while everyone’s thanking you, they really should be thanking me since this is really all my doing?” When Arthur sat up, Merlin gave him a cheeky grin.

“Don’t get cocky, Merlin. It’s not a good look for you.”

Even though he pressed his lips together tightly, Merlin could tell Arthur was struggling not to laugh. Merlin’s face hurt from how much he was smiling.

At the end of that event, while their team did a truly admirable job they couldn’t get too comfortable since China was less than five hundredths of a point behind them and the US wasn’t much farther.

As happy as he was after floor, Merlin was starting to feel the usual nerves as they walked towards the pommel horse. Arthur walked beside him. 

“You look positively green, Merlin,” Arthur said with no malice in his voice.

“Thanks for pointing that out.” Merlin fiddled with the wraps on his wrist. 

“Do you remember what I told you last time?”

Merlin looked up and tried to remember. Finally, he nodded. “Yes. Don’t start with my hips so high, don’t panic.”

“Exactly.” Arthur bumped his shoulder against Merlin’s. He gave a lingering look towards Merlin’s crotch. “Just keep those nice hips of yours moving and you’ll do fine.”

Merlin stumbled as Arthur winked at him.

Arthur laughed and walked ahead of Merlin, who had almost forgotten how to put one foot in front of the other. He didn’t even notice Gwaine standing next to him until the man cleared his throat loudly.

Merlin grunted as he whipped his head towards his friend. “What?”

“What did you do to the princess?” Gwaine looked over at Arthur, who was now chatting with Leon. “Normally, he’d be a bundle of nerves and keeping to himself. He looks...relaxed.”

Merlin just shrugged.

“Are you shagging already?”

Stopping in his tracks, Merlin was bumped into by Percival and he almost fell over. He righted himself quickly and glared at Gwaine. “Why would you say...that’s not even...we are not having sex,” he whispered the last three words.

Gwaine rolled his eyes. “Sure. Well, whatever you’re doing - or not doing - keep it up.” He clapped Merlin on the back.

Merlin looked up at the ceiling and hoped that he could make it the rest of the way without tripping and embarrass himself on national television. While they watched Russia perform on pommel horse, Merlin tried to keep his mind off Arthur’s...flirting?

Things started out a little more shaky on pommel horse. Gwaine did another great routine, but he and everyone else felt the judges must not have been watching the same routine because his score of 14.811 was lower than they thought he deserved.

Feeling an enormous amount of pressure now, Merlin stood at the chalk stand and tried to center himself. He knew he could do this. He was determined not to let everyone down. When he turned around the first person he saw was Arthur, who just nodded to him.

When it was Merlin’s turn he ran through everything he’d practiced one more time and then cleared his mind and took a deep breath. He felt confident as he started with a few easy movements traveling down the horse, circling his legs around, making sure to keep his legs together and feet pointed. His handstands, this time, were less shaky. He didn’t lose his nerve when he did a double scissor move, swinging with his legs wide open and moving his hands fluidly from pommel to the other, and then repeating the move on the other side of the horse. 

At the end, he did a series of flairs with more control than he ever had before. His dismount, from a flair to a clean dismount, was flawless. 

As soon as he was done, he pumped his fist into the air and ran over to his teammates. Lance gave him a high five. 

Arthur, who was preparing for his turn, came over and clutched Merlin’s shoulder with a bright grin. “Well done.” 

Merlin managed to just nod, instead of embarrassing himself by going for a hug. Arthur’s comment made waiting for his score - which took an eternity - more bearable.

When he got his score - a 15.133, the best he’d ever done - he found his mother in the crowd and she was clapping and smiling so hard, Merlin almost felt like his job was done, even though they had a long way to go.

Merlin watched Arthur prepare. Arthur was still completely focused like he usually was, but there was something about him that just felt different. He wasn’t constantly looking up in the stands keeping a wary eye on Uther. He didn’t ignore everyone around him - when Leon offered him good luck, Arthur smiled. It was a wonderful thing to see.

Starting off on pommel horse, Arthur looked in control as usual. It was a very clean and powerful performance. There was one slight issue when Arthur’s leg partially touched the horse while he was doing a scissors pass. He also took a step back on his dismount.

Merlin hoped that it wouldn’t be a setback for Arthur. Arthur stood next to Merlin while he waited for his score.

“It was a good performance, Arthur.”

Arthur didn’t look over at him. “I know. I just had a few mistakes...a few avoidable mistakes, but we’ll be okay.”

Merlin leaned forward and peered at him. “You’re really alright?”

Arthur chuckled. “Yes.”

Merlin saw Arthur flinch. His score had come in. It was a 15.300.

It took a second, but Arthur turned to Merlin and lightly slapped his hand against Merlin’s side. “See, I did better than you.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. He followed after Arthur as they made their way over to the site of the next event. “Arthur, I know I gave a pretty awesome speech last night, but are you sure something more isn’t going on.” He rushed over and stood next to Arthur and whispered, “You didn’t take any drugs or anything, right?”

Arthur’s eyes widened and he shook his head. “You’re lucky there aren’t any cameras around.”

“I made sure there weren’t.”

“No, I’m not taking any drugs,” Arthur mumbled under his breath. “I know it’s hard to believe, I can hardly believe it myself, but you really did help me last night. For the first time in a long time, I remember what it feels like to actually enjoy being here. I know it’s probably not going to last, so you can please let me enjoy that?”

Merlin faltered in his step for a moment. He wanted to reassure Arthur, but he couldn’t, so when he caught up to Arthur again, he nodded. “I’m sorry. I’ll let you enjoy it.”

After the second round, China fell back in points, but the US gained ground and were almost tied with Great Britain.

Lance started them off again on rings and he “redeemed” himself after his performance in the qualifying round. He looked far happier after he was done this time.

Gwaine, on the other hand, was not as happy with his performance or his subsequent scores. He glowered at the cameras that were on his face. Percival took him off to the side and they had a hushed conversation that seemed to lift Gwaine’s mood.

Arthur had another excellent performance on rings, but to Merlin’s dismay, after he was done Arthur was looking up to the stands more than he had been all day. When Merlin looked he could see Uther sitting with a scowl. Merlin balled up his hands and growled under his breath.

After Gwaine’s mistake, China rebounding, and the US men having a few lackluster performances, for the first time that day team GB found themselves in second place, though they were only a hundredth of a point behind China.

Before he was set to perform, Merlin did a few stretches. He was visualizing his vaults like he did every time. When it was finally his turn, he spared a glance towards his teammates as he walked towards the chalk stand. Leon and Lance gave him a thumbs up. Gwaine was talking to Gaius about something. And Arthur was seated on the bench with his head in his hands. 

Merlin really hoped Arthur wasn’t losing the joy he had been feeling earlier.

Getting back to thinking about his vault, Merlin focused as he looked at the table. He tried to tune everything else out. Taking off down the runway, Merlin felt really powerful and once he hit the table and was soaring through the air, for a brief second he felt truly blissful, and when he landed, taking a small step back, he smiled big. 

He felt compelled to glance back at his team and he immediately focused on Arthur, who was watching him with a small grin. Merlin immediately went to get ready for his second vault. He felt that same freedom the second time and this time he stuck his landing. He bowed to the judges and gave a small wave to his mom in the crowd.

Everyone patted him on the back. Arthur walked over to him with his arms crossed in front of his chest. “Looks like I have some real competition.”

Merlin swallowed thickly.

“You know just because we’re friends, doesn’t mean I won’t kick your arse.” His lips curled up into a smile.

Merlin chuckled. “I’m shaking.”

Arthur slapped him on the shoulder as he walked away. As Merlin turned and walked back to get his bag, he saw Lance and Gwaine standing with their heads together looking at Merlin with dumb grins on their faces. Merlin just rolled his eyes and waited for his score. As he put on his pants, he looked up at the scoreboard and almost screamed when he was rewarded with a 15.790.

Leon also did very well - though not as well during qualifying. He got a 15.200.

Merlin stood to watch Arthur’s next vault. The camera was on his face, so he tried to keep his expression passive even as Gwaine and Lance walked and stood behind him.

“So, how do you think your boyfriend is going to do?” Gwaine teased.

Merlin glanced at the camera before he turned and narrowed his eyes at Gwaine. “Shut it,” Merlin whispered. 

Gwaine snickered.

Once it was time to watch Arthur, Merlin blocked out everything else - the camera and his two leering friends. Watching Arthur explode off the table was still awe inspiring. Arthur was his typically brilliant self and his performance, and score - 16.230 - gave the team the shot in the arm it needed and they were once again in the lead.

Moving onto parallel bars, Merlin was slightly nervous since China really excelled on their next apparatus, rings. Merlin’s fears seemed to be warranted. While team GB did well on parallel bars, China did phenomenal on rings and was back in the lead.

Equally, troubling was the US and their explosive showing on the floor. They were only three-hundredths of a point behind team GB.

While they walked to the high bar, Merlin could see that Arthur had his mother’s pendant in his hand. He was mumbling to himself. Merlin caught up to him and just walked next to him. Arthur turned to him after a few moments. He looked about as green as Merlin had looked earlier.

“You don’t have to be nervous, Arthur.”

Arthur looked at him as if he’d grown a third head. “I don’t? We’re losing and, if you don’t know, both the US and Russia are nipping at our heels. One mistake, and that’s it, we don’t medal at all.”

“That’s not going to happen,” Merlin said with confidence. “I hate to sound cocky, and I know everything’s unpredictable, but Edwin Sokolov and William Petrov are rubbish at high bar compared to us. They won’t beat us.”

“So we’ll only get bronze then.” Arthur bowed his head and rubbed his hand across his neck.

They stopped one of the benches by the high bar. Arthur threw his bag down. Merlin turned around and looked for cameras. Seeing none, he took hold of Arthur’s left hand. “If we do, that will be fine. We are going to make history today, Arthur, no matter what. Please don’t overthink this and let this ruin things for you. You believed in all of us today, Arthur, and I just need you to keep believing for a little bit longer. I know we can do this - you can do this!”

Arthur’s gaze was piercing as he looked up at Merlin.

“Merlin!”

Merlin whirled around and saw that Kilgharrah was beckoning him. He needed to practice since he would be up on the high bar soon. He held up his finger to Kilgharrah and turned back to Arthur. He finally realized that he was still holding onto Arthur’s hand. He went to let go of Arthur’s hand, but he was startled when Arthur squeezed it instead. 

“Good luck, Merlin.” His voice sounded steadier. 

“Thank you.” Merlin felt a stab of pain when he finally let his hand slip from Arthur’s grasp.

The wait was terrible as they watched Russia perform. The last one up was William Petrov and Merlin thought he was going to pass out watching him perform. There was a small part of himself that felt bad that he kept wishing for some catastrophe to happen. Merlin kept snapping his grips against his wrist. 

You could practically hear a pin drop when suddenly Petrov fell off the bar. Avoiding jumping up in the air in excitement, Merlin tried to do the math in his head, but couldn’t. But in the back of his mind, he knew there was no way Russia could medal now. No matter what team GB was guaranteed a medal.

Merlin looked up into the stands. He didn’t think his mother knew just exactly what this meant, but she still had a smile from ear to ear. When Merlin turned he saw that Gaius also looked supremely pleased.

Putting that out of his mind as he got ready to perform took a Herculean effort. Merlin spat into his hands and did a little prayer before he was helped up onto the high bar. Somehow he was more nervous than he was during qualifying, but the crowd here got him through it. It felt like with every move he made the crowd was going mad. At first, Merlin worried it would distract him, but it only spurred him on. 

Two and a half twists and a perfect landing later, Merlin felt like he might puke and jump up in down in excitement simultaneously. He walked back to his team. The crowd’s cheering was almost deafening. He didn’t know how they could possibly get louder, but Merlin was proven wrong when he got his score - 15.600.

Nothing was settled yet, but with that score and the crowd’s reaction, Merlin felt like he had the wind knocked out of him. He bent over and clutched at his stomach. He felt someone lightly stroke his back and when he looked up, he wasn’t surprised to see Arthur smiling down at him.

The US was performing right now on rings. They had to wait until the final gymnasts had performed to see who would be in first place. After that, their fate rested with how China did on pommel horse.

Lance didn’t let the pressure show on his face as he started his high bar routine. Merlin watched his performance with rapt attention. Lance was doing amazing and the crowd truly loved him. As Lance did two perfectly executed somersaults back to back, Merlin glanced over his shoulder. Instead of watching Lance, or practicing, Arthur was looking up at his father. He had his mother’s pendant in his hand.

Merlin’s attention was diverted back to Lance when he heard a thunderous applause. Lance had landed and was bowing to the judges and then the crowd. He was in very high spirits and obviously had ended things just as well as he began. He bounded over to Merlin.

Merlin could stare at him with wide eyes.

“Come on, Merlin. Relax, it’s not as if our whole future is at stake here. “ Lance grinned. 

That Lance could be so calm was amazing to Merlin. Arthur walked up and stood beside them. He didn’t say anything. When Lance’s score came up, the crowd started cheering madly. His score was almost identical to his qualifying score. He got a 15.377.

It was Arthur’s turn next. Before he walked over to start, he looked at Merlin. “This is for my mother.” Arthur nodded with a small smile on his face.

Somehow, Merlin felt more nervous than when he was performing. Everything was going well - extremely well. Arthur seemed to fix some of the form issues that he had during the last round. More than that, Arthur didn’t look as tense. He wasn’t smiling, but he just seemed looser. He finished with a perfect double tuck somersault and his landing was so precise it was as if he had glue on the soles of his shoes.

When he turned to the roaring crowd, he had the biggest smile Merlin had ever seen from him. It was almost enough to make Merlin swoon. Arthur looked directly at him when he came back to wait for his scores. 

“That was…” Merlin started.

“Fun,” Arthur finished.

Merlin chuckled. 

Arthur was looking up and seemed distracted. Merlin followed his gaze. The last US performer’s scores were up. The US was now in first place. For team GB to move into first, Arthur would need a 15.500 or higher. 

Turning around, Merlin sucked in a breath. He couldn’t look. 

“Merlin?” Arthur called to him.

Merlin glanced over his shoulder.

Arthur was smiling. 

That piqued Merlin’s interest enough to turn around fully.

“Just listen to the crowd,” Arthur explained. “Believe me, they’ll tell us everything we need to know.”

And Arthur was absolutely right. The sound that erupted was like nothing Merlin had ever heard before. Both Arthur and Merlin looked up. Arthur’s score was 15.610. Merlin’s dropped open. Before he could turn his attention back to Arthur, Merlin was blindsided by someone - probably Gwaine - hugging him from behind. 

When Merlin turned around he could see that it was indeed Gwaine. He had a shit eating grin on his face. Merlin hugged him back. Swiveling around, he could see that Arthur’s expression was happy, but he was more subdued. Merlin realized Arthur was waiting to see how things went with China. It would make the difference between silver and gold. 

Truly, either way it shook out, Merlin would be happy. But he knew how much happier he would be if they were able to hang onto their number one spot.

The first two of China’s team performed admirably, but not good enough to beat Great Britain. The only way they could win would be if their last team member performed flawlessly and got a 15.433. Chenglong Zhang was great, but Merlin wasn’t sure if he could pull that off.

Arthur and Merlin exchanged nervous looks. In the middle of his routine, Zhang stumbled and touched the horse and botched his dismount. Merlin’s breath was caught in his throat when Arthur briefly grabbed his hand and squeezed. It was like a rock concert inside the arena. Merlin could barely hear himself think.

Despite the mistakes, Merlin refused to celebrate until Zhang’s scores came out. It took five minutes - the longest five minutes of Merlin’s life. His score was revealed as 14.233. Merlin let out a huge sob and covered his face with his hand. They’d actually done it. He had hoped and prayed that they would just win a medal at all, but only in his wildest dreams did he ever dare to dream they would win gold.

He felt arms wrap around him and when he could finally see again through his tears, he saw the entire team surrounding him. Except Arthur. Merlin wildly looked around for him. He saw him close to them with tears in his eyes and a huge smile on his face. As he was about to reach out for him, Gwaine did it for him and pulled Arthur into the hug.

They finally broke apart and when Merlin glanced up, his eyes landed on his mother who was weeping openly. Merlin really wished he could go to her right now. He also wanted to say something to Arthur - he didn’t know what. Right now, he couldn’t because Arthur was being interviewed.

Gwaine and Leon were now running around the arena with a huge Great Britain flag they waved in front of the crowd. Merlin couldn’t help but laugh. 

Merlin found both Kilgharrah and Gaius and gave them massive hugs. Everyone seemed overcome with emotion. When he looked up at the stands again, even Uther was cracking somewhat of a smile. 

Trying to avoid giving any interviews - he just wasn’t prepared - Merlin stood back and watched Arthur as he gave interview after interview.

Arthur laughed as he looked at Gwaine and Leon who were still running around. He turned back to the BBC reporter. “I am truly overwhelmed and incredibly grateful right now, to be able to win a medal for this wonderful country again and to do it in front of our home crowd...there really aren’t words to describe this feeling. It’s been an intense, wonderful experience and I can’t tell you how amazing it’s been to work with this team. They’re all brilliant.”

“But it’s not over yet,” The BBC reporter continued. “You have a chance to make history on your own. You could be the first British man to win Gold at the Olympics, ever. How does that feel?”

Merlin seriously wanted to pounce on that reporter. How was anyone supposed to answer that question?”

Arthur’s eyes clouded over for the briefest of moments before he put on a practiced smile. “Honestly, I’m not thinking about that right now. I just want to celebrate _this_ gold with my teammates.” 

“I’ll let you do that, then. Off you go.” The thin blonde woman put on a practiced phony smile.

Arthur thanked her and then left.

They have to wait a while for the medal ceremony. Gwaine and Percival have briefly gone off to “use the facilities.” Merlin doesn’t even want to know what that really means.

Arthur and Merlin finally have a minute alone. 

Merlin placed his hands behind his back and leaned against the wall. “This is amazing, isn’t it?”

“It really is.” Arthur smiled. 

“I can’t wait to be able to go to my mother. I think she might hug me until I pass out.” Merlin chuckled. Realizing it might have been insensitive, Merlin looked up with wide eyes. “I’m sorry. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

Arthur waved off his concern. “I’m not going to burst into tears whenever you mention the word “mother.” I’m alright.”

Merlin felt silly and just nodded.

Arthur stepped towards him. He watched Gaius and Lance in front of them as they shared a friendly conversation. His gaze turned to Merlin and Merlin felt his stomach flip. Arthur was so close, Merlin could feel his breath on his face.

“I just want to say something to you that I haven’t before,” Arthur whispered.

“And that is?” Merlin clutched at the wall for support. 

“That I’m sorry.”

That was unexpected and Merlin wasn’t quite sure what to say.

“The way I treated you when we got here - and before that - was inexcusable and I’m sorry that I never truly apologized. I blindly took what my father said to be true and didn’t think for myself. I treated you like a monster when in actuality I was behaving like one.”

It was possibly the most vulnerable Merlin had ever seen him, even compared to during the blackout. Merlin could actually feel how sincere Arthur was. 

“I accept your apology, Arthur. I just want to put it behind us.” Merlin gently touched Arthur’s arm.

Arthur looked down at it and silently nodded. He took a couple of steps back and cleared his throat.

“Watching you today, it was the best time I’ve had being here.” Merlin quietly admitted.

To Merlin’s surprise, Arthur’s face flushed. “Well, performing here today was the best time I’ve had being here.”

Merlin grinned. He played with the bottom of his windbreaker. “I didn’t tell you this before, but I’ve seen footage of your mother performing. Watching the way you were today, especially during the vault and high bar, you looked just like her.”

For a second, Arthur just blinked at Merlin. His eyes slowly filled with tears and he stared down at the floor. “I…” He sounded choked up. “Thank you.”

Merlin opened his mouth to say something, but Lance interrupted. “It’s time.”

Arthur and Merlin nodded. 

As the US team, who won bronze, were walking out on the stage Gwaine came running to join the team. He was furiously brushing his thick brown hair out of his face.

Merlin smirked. “Have fun?” 

Gwaine laughed as he finally got his hair looking presentable. “Absolutely.”

It was soon time for the silver medalist team’s turn to step onto the stage. China’s team went out there to applause from the audience.

Merlin could feel a thousand butterflies in his stomach knowing what was about to happen. Those butterflies increased when he looked at Arthur who was staring at him intently. 

Finally, it was their turn. They walked onto the stage to thunderous applause and cheers. Taking their place behind the three-tiered platform, they had to wait to step on until the medals had been handed out to the US and China. 

It was hard to not to feel a huge rush of emotion just standing there watching the other teams get their medals. Even though all eyes were on them, Merlin could feel a particular set of eyes on him and when he looked to his right, Arthur was still watching him. They smiled at each other.

The time came for the team to get their medals. They all stepped onto the top tier of the purple platform. Merlin closed his eyes and took in a huge gulp of air. An African-American woman, a member of the IOC, came over to them and as each of their names was announced they were to bow and she placed the gold medal around their neck. The first was Leon. He got his medal and stood up and waved to the enthusiastic crowd. Next was Gwaine, who blew a kiss to everyone after he received his medal. 

As Lance received his medal, Merlin realized he was next. He couldn’t control it as he started to tremble all over. He felt paralyzed as she stood before him. Arthur gave him a slight nudge and Merlin leaned forward. It felt so heavy when the gold medal was finally placed around his neck. He stood back up and waved to the ground. He touched his medal and lifted it up.

He turned around in time to see Arthur leaning back and waving to the crowd with a movie star smile that seemed to ramp the crowd up into a bigger frenzy. Merlin felt like cheering himself.

After waving to the crowd for a minute they were given flowers. They posed for some pictures, Gwaine biting down on the gold medal. Now it was time for the raising of the flags and the anthem. They turned to the right and looked up at the ceiling as the National Anthem started to play.

Even though he had heard “God Save the Queen” dozens of times, it felt like hearing it for the first time. It was really starting to hit Merlin what was happening. He looked down at the medal and then the flag, the crowd, and his teammates. He pressed his eyes tight to keep the tears at bay but he couldn’t help it. 

When he sobbed out loud, Arthur put his hand on his shoulder. Lance turned around and he smiled. He reached back for Merlin’s hand. Merlin wiped his eyes and felt such gratitude for his teammates. 

At the close of the ceremony, they posed for more pictures as the other teams stepped off the platform. Someone handed them the flag of Great Britain and they posed for pictures behind it. 

Everything felt like a blur after that. They waved to the crowd. They posed for more pictures. They did interviews. All Merlin really wanted was to get a chance to see his mother. 

After they were done with their third interview, Arthur pulled him to the side. He gestured behind him. “You need to go in the back.”

“What? What’s going on?” Merlin narrowed his eyes in confusion.

Arthur grinned. “Gaius brought someone back there I think you really want to see.” He stared at Merlin as if he was waiting for him to understand what he was saying.

Finally, Merlin caught on and laughed. “Oh, okay.”

Arthur laughed and patted him on the back as he ran off.

As soon as Merlin got there, he saw his mother. She threw her arms open and he flew into them. She squeezed him. He could barely breathe, but didn’t care. “I’m so proud of you, honey.”

Merlin held onto here for dear life. “We did it, mum. We did it.” He let his tears fall without shame.


	4. Chapter 4

The team raised their glasses and cheered. “Great Britain!”

Everyone laughed and knocked back the champagne. For once, Uther had used his powers for good and had closed down a local restaurant, Hibiscus, so the team could celebrate. Of course, Uther himself hadn’t arrived. Arthur was sure his father might be allergic to all the merriment on display. 

Arthur was determined to relax, but he also didn’t want to drink too much since he still had a lot of training to do the next day, but he was having a lot more fun, and feeling much more relaxed than at their last dinner.

The only thing marring the event was that he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to speak to Merlin yet. Never in a million years when these Olympics started did he think talking to Merlin would be the highlight of his day, but there it was.

He turned to get some water from the bar when someone put their arm around his neck. Gwaine sloppily kissed his cheek. It was only 8:30 and he was smashed already. That was actually late by Gwaine standards.

“This guy,” Gwaine slurred his speech. “You turned out to be a fucking much better captain than I would have thought.” 

“Thank you.” Arthur laughed.

Gwaine leaned in close to his ear. “And if you want to shag Merlin, I say go for it.”

Arthur coughed. “I don’t…”

Gwaine jumped up and sat on top of the bar. Arthur was surprised that he didn’t fall over. “You don’t need to deny it. You could do far worse than young Merlin. He could probably do much better, but you…” He put up his hands and did the “okay” gesture.

“Is this bloke bothering you?” Merlin said with laughter in his voice.

Arthur actually physically perked up at the sound of his voice. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I was just-” Gwaine started.

Arthur leaned over and clamped his hand over Gwaine’s mouth.

“Just some ridiculous rubbish. You know Gwaine’s plastered.”

Merlin furrowed his brow and looked between the two of them. “Alright,” Merlin drawled.

Percival sauntered over. “Let me take care of this.” He lifted Gwaine up and threw him over his shoulder.

Arthur and Merlin watched him and when they faced each other they broke into fits of laughter.

“He is quite a character,” Merlin said as he caught his breath.

Arthur nodded. “That he is. I suppose he’s lucky that he doesn’t have to compete again for a few more days.”

“Yeah.” Merlin gestured between the two of them. “Unlike us.”

“Yes.”

Sitting down at the bar, Merlin waited for Arthur to sit next to him. “Are you nervous?”

Arthur played with a water ring on the bar’s surface. “You’re my rival, Merlin. I’m not going to tell you that.” When he glanced up, he flashed Merlin a sexy, lopsided grin.

For a moment, Arthur thought that he heard Merlin whimper. He was about to speak when he spotted his father coming through the front door and searching until he spotted Arthur.

He looked tense, but he always looked tense. Arthur stood up and tried to smile. “Father, you’re here. Can I-”

“We’re leaving.”

Merlin got up and stood in front of Uther and Arthur. “Mr. Pendragon, maybe you-”

“I’m speaking to my son,” Uther interrupted with a scowl. “You’ve celebrated for the appropriate amount of time. We have things to discuss and you have training in the morning. Say goodbye, Arthur.”

It was on the tip of Arthur’s tongue to remind his father that he was not a child anymore, but he knew it would be of no use. He’d already been embarrassed in front of Merlin and he didn’t want to add to that.

He took a deep breath and turned to Merlin. “He’s...he’s right. It’s been fun. I’ll see you in our room.”

Uther bristled at his last sentence.

Before Merlin could say anything, Arthur stiffly walked out. His father followed closely behind. Uther didn’t say anything as they got into his car. Before they pulled away from the restaurant, Uther threw his cellphone in Arthur’s lap. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Arthur furrowed his brow as he looked at his father and then picked up the phone and turned it on. On the BBC website, the picture displayed at the top of the Sports Section was a picture of Merlin and Arthur and they were holding hands. The way they were looking at each other brought back the intensity of the moment.

Trying to play it off, Arthur shrugged. “I don’t understand why you’re upset. My teammate was comforting me. That was all.”

Uther stared straight ahead. His hands tightened on the wheel. “Do you know what the implications of a picture like that are?”

Arthur scoffed. “The caption only talks about our team winning gold. It doesn’t imply anything else. You’re the only one implying anything and I’m not sure exactly what that is.”

“You two are sharing a room, are you not?”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “And that means we’re what - shagging every night? I don’t remember you having these concerns with Leon.” Arthur wasn’t sure what had gotten into him. He hadn’t even drunk that much.

Uther glared at him with such a withering look Arthur tried to melt into his seat.

“You would be wise to watch your tone.” His lips curled. “Do you think just because you’ve won gold today, that means something?”

“Of course not,” Arthur muttered.

Uther shook his head. “It doesn’t mean anything if you don’t win gold at the All-Around finals. That is what we have been striving for. That picture...other than suggesting something inappropriate, also displays a moment of weakness. You cannot let your enemies see that?”

Arthur rubbed at his forehead. “Those people...the other teams, they’re not my enemies. They’re my competition, there’s a difference.”

They arrived in front of the Olympic village. Uther stopped the car and then turned in his seat to stare at Arthur. “Merlin is your competition, as well. Or have you forgotten that?”

Arthur didn’t answer.

“Arthur!”

He shot his father a hard look. “No, I haven’t forgotten.”

Uther put his arm on the dashboard and his fingers drummed against it. He sighed. “I know you might not believe this, but I am happy with what you accomplished today.”

It wasn’t something Arthur was expecting to hear. He slowly peered up at his father.

“But I know you are capable of so much more. You…” He swallowed. “You could have the kind of career your mother never had.”

Arthur closed his eyes. It was hard not to hear a “because of you” at the end of that sentence. His throat was thick with too many emotions to name. He looked out the window. “May I go?”

After a moment, Uther finally nodded.

Arthur was out of the car without another word or backward glance at his father.

When he gets back to his room, he is relieved that Merlin isn't back yet. He knew Merlin would be concerned and he didn’t want to deal with the look of pity on Merlin’s face.

It’s only an hour later when Merlin returned. He softly called to Arthur. Even though he felt guilty about it, he pretended to be asleep.

 

~*~

 

When Merlin woke up the next morning, Arthur was already gone. Merlin didn't waste any time in getting ready and making his way to the gym.

As soon as he arrived, he could see Arthur already hard at work practicing his floor routines. Merlin watched him as he prepared. 

Arthur did an impressive tumbling pass that ended with a three and a half twist. After he landed, he immediately did a somersault backward. It took Merlin’s breath away.

Also causing Merlin some breathing problems was how he couldn't help focusing on Arthur’s arse in those tight red shorts. Every time Arthur bent over, Merlin found himself wishing Arthur didn’t practice wearing underwear.

He shook his head and put his head in his hands. When did he turn into Gwaine?

When Arthur was done, Merlin moved to start practicing his floor routine. He noticed that as Arthur toweled himself off and took a drink of water, he kept watching as Merlin practiced.

Merlin felt at ease with his performance and that he was getting better each time. But when he saw Arthur the look on his face did not fill him with confidence.

He made his way over to Arthur. “What did you think?”

Arthur opened and for one of the only times since Merlin had known him, he seemed to be searching for how to respond.

“It was excellent.” Arthur pursed his lips together.

“But…?” Merlin walked up to him. 

Arthur scrunched up his face. He sighed. “Look, you are truly excellent here, but it’s a little safe and...boring.”

Merlin started to protest, but Arthur held up his hand. 

“You have a body that’s built for this.” He looked down and smiled. “You’re strong and tall, but you’re thin and, even though you’re a world class klutz in real life, you’re graceful and powerful out here. Some of the tumbling passes you make - even I can’t do them. No matter how high you get, you stick the landing every time. Your execution scores will always be brilliant. I know if you just up your difficulty, even a small amount, you can blow everyone away.”

Merlin blinked at him after he was finished.

Arthur bit his lip and looked uncertain. “Was that too harsh?”

Slowly, Merlin nodded. He worried that his mouth was hanging open, but it wasn’t.

They ended up practicing together for the rest of the day. Since he was especially nervous about his ring performance, Arthur helped him work on that and gave him some pointers. Even though he balked at first - “so the non-champion is going to give the World Champion tips?” - Arthur actually listened when Merlin talked to him about some of the mistakes Arthur had been making on high bar.

The only time they separated was when Arthur left to have lunch with his father. Merlin decided to take Arthur’s advice and talked to Kilgharrah about adding a few new moves and upping the difficulty of his floor routine.

While Merlin was sitting on the floor doing some stretches Gaius came over to him. He cleared his throat and Merlin looked up with a smile.

“I’ve noticed that you and Arthur seem to be getting along very well.”

Merlin stood up. “We are.” He elbowed Gaius, who looked startled. “Don’t look so surprised. You’re very wise.”

Gaius chuckled.

For the rest of the time, Merlin alternated between nervously practicing and nervously waiting for Arthur to come back from having lunch with his father. He worried about the effect Uther would have on Arthur’s mood. It was sort of nice to have something to occupy his mind other than thinking of all the ways things could go wrong tomorrow.

Gwaine and Lance helped distract him by heckling him as he practiced his parallel bar routine. He almost fell off the bar when Gwaine started imitating Uther by just standing in the stands with a stern look on his face.

When Arthur finally came back, he seemed a little more subdued but he smiled at Merlin when he asked him if he was okay and they got back to work. By the time they got back to their room, Merlin felt more positive about competing. He knew he worked about as hard as he could and he could be satisfied with however things turned out.

As they got ready for bed, Arthur kept watching him and Merlin started to get uncomfortable. He came out of the bathroom with his toothbrush in his mouth. “What?” Bits of toothpaste spit out in front of him.

Arthur sighed in disgust. “”Really?”

Merlin rolled his eyes. He went back to the sink and spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth. He came back out. “Better?”

Arthur nodded.

“So, what is it? Did your father say something upsetting?”

Arthur took off his pants. Merlin was instantly distracted. “My father always says something upsetting. It’s his default mode. I wasn’t thinking about him. I was thinking about your magic.”

Merlin kept staring. He almost forgot what Arthur said. He shook his head and turned around. “Uh...my magic. What about it?”

“Don’t you ever just want to skip having to do the boring, mundane things in life and just use it all the time?” He finally put his pants back on and Merlin could concentrate.

“I told you my magic doesn’t always do what I want it to.” Merlin walked over to his bed and plugged in his phone to be charged.

“But sometimes it does?”

Merlin nodded. He sat down. “My mother’s always tried to teach my not to use my magic unnecessarily. I don’t want to learn how to take the easy way out.”

Pulling back his bed covers, Arthur looked at Merlin as if he was seeing him for the first time. “That’s really admirable. I was just wondering what else you could do other than making light.”

Merlin got in bed. “What are you asking? Do you want me to put on some kind of magic display for you?”

Arthur laid on his side and looked at Merlin. “It could be fun.”

“I’m sorry. You have me confused with a magician.”

Arthur threw back his head and laughed. “I don’t think I’m asking that much.”

Merlin didn’t know why he was giving Arthur such a hard time. It really wouldn’t take that much effort. He just really liked exasperating him. “I don’t like performing like some sort of circus animal.”

“Except for when you prance around and do tricks in competition.” Arthur had a sly smile on his face.

“Oi!” Merlin held up his finger. “I never prance.”

Arthur couldn’t stop giggling. Merlin hated that he found it so adorable. “How about you do some…” Merlin furrowed his brow. He looked over at Arthur. “What else can you do besides gymnastics?”

Arthur pondered this and then let out a deep sigh. “:Nothing.” His smile was sad. “I’ve spent so much time practicing and practicing it didn’t leave time for much else.”

“Even…” Merlin bit his lip. “...Relationships?”

Arthur stared up at the ceiling. “Especially relationships.”

Even though he worried that he was being too obvious, Merlin had to ask his next question. “Would you have wanted to have a girlfriend or...a boyfriend?”

Arthur turned to look directly in his eye. “I think you know the answer to that.”

Merlin sucked in a breath.

They stared at each for what felt like an eternity. Finally, Arthur broke the spell and reached for his phone on the table. “It’s late. We should sleep.”

“Right,” Merlin whispered so softly he could barely hear himself.

“Night, Merlin.”

“Goodnight.” Merlin squeezed his eyes shut but he couldn’t get to sleep. He wondered if it would be too obvious if he suddenly got up to "take a shower." He contemplated this. Even though he knew his erection would make it incredibly hard to sleep, he decided against it.

 

~*~

 

Arthur had slept fitfully. His conversation with Merlin last night played over and over in his head. If he could have done so quietly, he would have gone to the bathroom to have a wank, but he was never usually able to be quiet enough. So, he had suffered in silence.

When he woke in the morning, he decided to be a good roommate and wake Merlin up. Unfortunately, it already looked like Melin was up...very up. He had kicked the covers off and was only covered in a thin sheet which did nothing to hide the large - impressive - bulge at his crotch. Arthur’s mouth went dry and he could feel himself start to harden. He was so close to just leaning over and opening his mouth and...he slapped his face hard. 

He turned around and headed to the bathroom. On the way there he yelled to Merlin. “Wake up, Merlin.”

Arthur couldn’t look in Merlin’s eye the rest of the morning. Merlin was trying to make idle chit-chat, but Arthur couldn’t participate. He kept picturing Merlin’s erection in his mind. Thankfully, by the time they got to the arena Arthur was ready to focus. He had been raised to compartmentalize with the best of them. 

Arthur could see his father already waiting. His face looks emotionless. Sitting in front of him were Merlin’s mother Hunith and the rest of their team. They all waved to both of them and cheered. It had never really concerned Arthur before, but he was glad to have them in the stands cheering them on.

Right away, he started practicing on the floor. Even after all the practice yesterday, he felt like he might be rusty on it since he hadn’t performed it yet at the Olympics. He felt confident.

Since Arthur had finished first in qualifying and Merlin fifth, they would be competing in the same rotation and starting out on the floor. Arthur would be first up. Before he got ready to go out there, Merlin came up to him. 

He gave him a tentative smile. “I just want to wish you the best of luck.”

Arthur gripped Merlin’s elbow briefly. “Same to you.”

Merlin stepped back. 

Maybe it was all the practice, or maybe all the time away from it helped, but Arthur started off with a difficult tumbling pass that he performed flawlessly. Everything fell into place after that. Arthur felt like he was in the zone. By the end of it, the crowd was fully engaged and Arthur couldn’t help smiling.

When he walked off, he could see Merlin watching him and his smile looked just as big. Arthur wasn’t disappointed when he finally got his score, which was a 15.333. It was an excellent start to the day.

While they waited, Merlin had his eyes closed and seemed to be going over everything in his head. He had a few discussions with his coach. A couple of spots before Merlin was to perform, World Champion Kohei Uchimura had an uncharacteristically rough go of it. 

Arthur looked up in the stands and saw that his father looked pleased since Uchimura might be Arthur’s stiffest competition. 

Since Arthur had time plenty of time before his next event, he watched Merlin as he practiced on the floor. It filled Arthur with pride to see Merlin taking a chance and going with a more difficult routine. When Merlin stumbled and fell during a difficult tumbling pass, Arthur’s heart leaped into his throat, but Merlin quickly dusted himself off. 

As Merlin started on the floor, Arthur couldn’t tell if Merlin was nervous. He seemed like he was ready. Everything started off well. It was the same great performance as the previous rounds. It was actually the same exact performance as the previous rounds. Merlin had taken out the passes that he’d added in.

When he came off the floor, Merlin smiled at him. Arthur tried not to show his disappointment at Merlin’s move. It seemed that Merlin could tell something was on his mind. “I took them out.”

“What?” Arthur asked.

“The extra tumbling passes. After what happened with Uchimura, I thought I should take them out and just be safe,” Merlin explained. 

Arthur nodded. “That makes sense.”

Merlin’s score - 15.066 - was respectable, but Arthur could see from the way his smile drooped and his eyes clouded over, that Merlin was disappointed.

Arthur squeezed his shoulder. “You did really well.”

Merlin flashed a smile that was more of a grimace.

After the first round, Arthur was in third place and Merlin was in sixth. Arthur thought it was a great showing for Merlin since these were his first Olympics.

As they waited around to get started on pommel horse, Arthur started to really worry that Merlin might puke. He looked about as green as he’d ever seen him. 

“Are you nervous?” Arthur asked as Merlin played with his grips obsessively.

“Why? Because my two worst events are back to back?” Merlin shrugged. “Why would I be nervous?”

Arthur sat next to him. “You know what’s scary?”

Merlin barely glanced at him.

“You sound a lot like me. Perhaps you should take your own advice.”

Merlin just stared at him.

“Be happy. Your mother is out there and your team is out there and they are going to respect you and be there for you no matter what. Trust me, you’re never going to have another chance to enjoy your first Olympics the way you should have if you beat yourself up over every little thing.”

Merlin crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell me do I sound this annoying when I give advice?” The words were cutting, but his the lines around his eyes were crinkling and he was starting to smile.

Arthur groaned. “Oh, you’re _much_ worse.” He grinned.

Knowing that Merlin was feeling better, Arthur felt more relaxed as he practiced his pommel horse routine. It was hard to tell while he was performing, but he honestly couldn’t think of any mistakes he had made. As soon as he was done, Merlin came over to him and punched him lightly in the arm. “That was brilliant!”

Merlin’s praise made Arthur feel giddy. He felt even better after he got his score - a 15.500.

As happy as he was with his performance, he was even happier to see Merlin improve on his pommel horse performance from the team final. He looked confident and the best he’d ever seen Merlin on pommel horse. Arthur almost had a fit when he felt Merlin’s score - 15.067 - didn’t reflect his performance level. 

Merlin didn’t seem concerned. “I can’t worry about it. I just want to focus on rings.” So that’s what they did, even though Arthur still wanted to have a word with the judges.

After the second round, Arthur was still in third, but he had climbed up to within five hundredths of a point to second place. Merlin, unfortunately, was down to seventh place.

Arthur looked up at the stands and saw that his father was glaring at him. He knew exactly what his father would say to him if he was with Arthur right then. He knew that he might be too focused on Merlin, but he still thought he was giving his best performance.

He felt he proved that when he delivered another dominant performance on rings. Arthur knew if he performed at that level he might have a shot at winning the rings individual gold. 

Merlin spent most of his time waiting to perform watching their friends and his mother in the crowd - they were still smiling and cheering and Hunith waved at Merlin. He talked to Kilgharrah and Gaius as well. Before he went to stand by the rings, he looked toward Arthur and Arthur gave him a thumbs up sign which made Merlin grin.

It had never occurred to Arthur before how having so much invested in someone else took so much out of you. He felt drained just watching Merlin. Merlin started off very well. He went into a handstand and the rings were more steady than they had been previously. He did a Maltese cross where his body was straight out, perpendicular to the floor. Even though it looked like he was struggling to hold the position, he kept the rings mostly still and kept his body straight. 

Arthur let out a big exhale when Merlin ended with a beautiful dismount, with only a tiny step back. Arthur clapped and clapped Merlin on the back when Merlin came to wait for his score. Briefly, Arthur looked up and saw that his father was glowering watching Merlin and him together. He put that out of his mind when Merlin got his score and pumped his fist in the air after getting a 15.193.

“That’s the best I’ve ever done,” Merlin exclaimed. 

Arthur laughed at how triumphant Merlin looked.

They were halfway through the competition and Arthur and Merlin had both moved up to second and fifth place, respectively.

This was now the point where Arthur started to feel the most pressure, not only because they were at the halfway point, but because vault was up next. But he also felt fairly confident in both his and Merlin’s abilities at this event. The only hitch was that Edwin Sokolov, who was in third place, also performed excellently at that apparatus.

For the first time that day, Arthur took out his mother’s pendant. Arthur wasn’t ashamed to admit that he a part of him craved getting the gold. He would never have worked this hard if he was just willing to settle for less than being the best. But when he thought about what he wanted to take away from being here, he just wanted to do right by his mother.

He hoped that she was watching him every time he performed a vault. He kissed the pendant and put it back. He walked to the runway and when the judges gave him the go ahead, he charged forward and did his absolute best. When he stuck his landing, he just sighed and bowed to the judges and then the audience. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Merlin clapping madly. That lifted him up and he delivered once again on his second vault. 

Watching Merlin on vault, Arthur was truly impressed. While Merlin didn’t have the exact same height and power as Arthur, he was still strong and his form was always just shy of perfect when he shot off the table. The only thing he really needed to work on was his landings.

They high-fived each other after Merlin was done. The crowd was cheering and they both waved briefly.

Heading into the final two events, Arthur and Merlin’s positions hadn’t changed. If Merlin was to have a shot at the bronze medal he was going to have to hope that the two ahead of him had a few missteps on their next events, which were the floor and parallel bars. Arthur was one point behind Uchimura. 

They both performed well on parallel bars, though Merlin had a slight bobble when he did a handstand and went to turn around on the bars and his hand almost slipped. He lost his form on the handstand. He also took a giant step back on the dismount.

It didn’t hurt him terribly, but it didn’t help him get ahead of the two in front of him. Arthur really hoped Merlin could rebound on the high bar since he had been excelling at that during the first two rounds.

Arthur was still in second place, though he had a real shot at gold. If he fixed some of the issues that he and Merlin had worked on like not rushing his releases on the final two swings. In a way, he was glad that he performed first and could get it over with, but he knew the waiting after, especially for Uchimura to perform on the high bar, would be unbearable.

Before he performed, Arthur tried to let everything go and just focus. The routine is as complicated as ever, but Arthur feels like he really lets the performance breathe, instead of rushing things. It’s the best he’s felt on the high bar since he won the World Championship. It definitely helps to have the home crowd on your side.

As happy as he was with his performance, he walked off the stage with shaky legs. It’s finally hit him that in twenty minutes or less, he would find out if he won another gold medal. He didn’t look at anyone else, even, Merlin. He tried to block out the camera in his face. He pretended to fiddle with his bag.

Merlin came to stand beside him. “That was...that was really beautiful, Arthur.”

Arthur briefly glanced up at him. “I hope the judges agree.”

Merlin leaned down and whispered to him. “Just listen to the crowd.”

Arthur looked up and swallowed as he stared into Merlin’s blue eyes. The moment was broken when they heard a deafening roar. Looking up swiftly, Arthur beamed when he saw that he got a 15.400. He was now in first place.

The US team’s Al Varr would perform and then Uchimura. 

“Look up,” Merlin said.

Arthur followed his gaze and laughed when he saw Leon, Lance, and Gwaine standing up and hooting and clapping. 

Gaius came over and squeezed Arthur’s shoulder. “Be proud.”

Feeling overwhelmed, Arthur nodded quickly and then stood up. He began to pace. Merlin hovered around him. “Merlin, you should go and practice.”

Merlin shook his head. “I have time. I’m just going to stand here silently if that’s alright.”

Arthur stopped mid-pace and was once again gobsmacked with what a true friend Merlin had become. “Thank you.”

Varr had performed now and had scored a 14.650. He was out of the running for a medal. It was now Uchimura’s turn. He would need a 15.533 or higher to surpass Arthur.

Not being able to stand watching his performance, Arthur sat at the bench with his head in his hands. The crowd was mostly quiet and Arthur didn’t know what to make of that. After Uchimura was finished, Merlin sat down beside him. He didn’t hold his hand, but he pressed up close to Arthur and Arthur felt comforted by that.

Five minutes later, there was a mixture of gasps and a smattering of applause. Merlin had stiffened beside him. Arthur gulped before he peered over at Merlin. “It’s not good, is it?”

“Uh...Uchimura got a 15.600,” Merlin said in a small voice.

Arthur inhaled sharply. So, he definitely wouldn’t win gold. He still needed to process it. He nudged Merlin’s leg. “Alright, you waited. Now go and practice. You still have a shot.”

Merlin shook his head. “I would need close to a perfect score to even hope to get bronze.”

Arthur looked up at him. “So go and get it.”

Merlin stared for a second, before he shrugged, flashing Arthur a shy smile.

Arthur couldn’t even bear to sneak a peek at his father. He was sure he was frothing at the mouth. Silver, or possibly bronze, wasn’t anything to be ashamed of, but Arthur was certainly disappointed that he didn’t get the gold. But he knew that he could be proud of his performances.

He stood up slowly and watched Merlin’s performance. Merlin had been right. He would need just about a perfect score to stand on the podium. It was highly unlikely, despite how talented Merlin was, but he knew that Merlin would give it his all anyway. And he was right. It was a magnificent performance, and even though Merlin didn’t medal this time, Arthur knew Merlin had a bright future ahead of him.

Merlin still smiled brightly as he came over to stand beside Arthur. “Better luck next time, I guess.”

Arthur nodded. “Absolutely.” 

The crowd was clapping and cheering and Arthur heard them calling Merlin’s name. Merlin put a happier face and waved to the crowd. He blew a kiss to his mother.

Merlin’s final score was a 15.477. There were more cheers from the crowd.

The only thing left to wait for was Edwin Sokolov’s performance. As Merlin had said before, Edwin was not a clutch performer when it came to the high bar. But anything could happen. If he got a 15.820 or anything higher, Arthur would fall to third.

Edwin’s performance was nice, but nothing spectacular. After he was done, the audience already started to cheer loudly for Arthur even before Edwin’s score was announced. When it finally was - 15.030 - the audience erupted.

Merlin pushed Arthur and he stepped forward and smiled and waved. Hearing the crowd still showing their appreciation, Arthur was starting to come to terms with finishing second. 

Gaius walked over to him and handed him the flag, giving him a wide, toothy smile. “I’m very proud.”

Before accepting the flag, he shook Gaius’ hand and stepped back. He stroked his hand over the flag before he unfolded it and displayed it proudly to the crowd. 

He looked off to the side and he saw Merlin cheering louder than anyone. Arthur knew that he would remember this moment for the rest of his life.

When he dared to glance up at the stands, he was very happy to see his teammates - and even Hunith - smiling and clapping - but his heart sank a little when he saw that his father was gone.

He thought he could bypass any reporters, but found out how wrong he was when after picking up his bag, he turned around and had a microphone inches from his face and the tall blonde BBC reporter looking at him with intense eyes. He’d learned her name was Morgause Gorlois.

“It’s been a tough day, hasn’t it?” She began.

Arthur inwardly rolled his eyes. Why start off with a non-question like that? He just crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

“You were a quintessential component in Great Britain winning the team competition, but you couldn’t achieve that for yourself. Is it disappointing?” Morgause asked in a simpering tone of voice that drove Arthur crazy.

“I won’t lie, yes, it is a tremendous disappointment.” He sighed. His eyes drifted up towards his teammates. He smiled and looked back at Morgause. “But, if it was a choice between winning gold for the team or for myself, I’m pleased this is how it turned out. It was important to win this for our country as a team. Every one of those men put their heart and soul into this competition and I’m absolutely thrilled to have shared this experience with them and to have won gold together.”

When he turned, he saw that Merlin’s eyes looked glassy and there was such a look of pride on his face that Arthur couldn’t help but also feel proud of himself in that moment as well. He flashed Merlin a bright smile and then turned to wave to the crowd.

After that it was a whirlwind and Arthur could hardly remember it all. He was so distracted he didn’t even see when Merlin left, but as he walked out during the medal ceremony he saw that Merlin was sitting next to his mother and the rest of their teammates. He started screaming and clapping as soon as he spotted Arthur. 

It wasn’t as pretty as gold, but he still stared at the silver medal after it was placed around his neck. After the ceremony was over and he took a few minutes with Uchimura and the bronze medalist Edwin Sokolov to take a few pictures, Arthur was finally able to leave. 

Before he left, he checked out the stands and was a bit disappointed that everyone was gone. He went backstage towards the exit and headed to his room at the Olympic Village. A few athletes stopped him, offering him congratulations. It was surprising and made him really appreciate the camaraderie the Olympics resulted in between so many different athletes.

The toll of the competition was finally starting to hit him and he rubbed at his eyes when he opened the door.

“Surprise!”

Arthur was so startled he fell against the door. He looked around and saw everyone crammed into the tiny room. Lance, Leon, Gaius, Gwaine, Kilgharrah, Percival, and Merlin were all standing there with big, wide grins and they started to clap. 

Looking down at his feet, Arthur rubbed at his eyes, this time, because he was afraid he might actually start to cry. This wasn’t something he expected at all. 

Merlin walked up to him and closed the door behind him and lead Arthur further into the room. Finally starting to shake himself out of his daze, Arthur went over to shake everyone's hand but they all offered him hugs instead, which he tried to return as non-awkwardly as possible - sometimes he was successful, sometimes not. He thought he might suffocate against the wall that was Percival’s chest.

When he got to Merlin his palms started to sweat and he stared at Merlin through his lashes. Merlin stepped forward and put his arms around him. It was gentle at first, but when Arthur returned the hug, Merlin squeezed him harder. Arthur tried to keep himself from letting out a sigh. It was his hardest struggle of the day.

Arthur cleared his throat and stepped back. He looked around at all of them. “I cannot tell you how much I appreciate this,” he started.

Gwaine stepped forward. “Always so formal, princess.”

Arthur rolled his eyes, though he appreciated Gwaine still being so Gwaine. If he was anything less it would have been too unnerving.

“And don’t thank us yet. We are taking you out to have a proper celebration,” Gwaine finished.

“Proper meaning blinding drunk?” Arthur grinned.

“Uh...yeah.” Gwaine put his arm around Arthur’s shoulder her and pressed Arthur to him. “You have no excuses since you don’t have to compete for another three days. Which is when you’ll be losing to me, so soak up this nice Gwaine while you can.”

Arthur leaned his head back to eye Gwaine up and down with an imperious look on his face . “Are you drunk already? You will beat me when pigs actually fly out of your arse.”

Gwaine snorted. They laughed together.

Suddenly, the front door opened and Uther stomped into the room like a dark rain cloud. He marched toward Arthur and grabbed his arm. “You need to come with me.”

Arthur pulled his arm back and stepped away. “My friends are here and-”

“Your friends?” Uther said with a sneer.

“Yes, friends,” Lance spoke up.

Arthur smiled. It was felt a bit silly, considering they had all been there to hug and congratulate him, but Arthur was relieved to hear him verbally confirm they were friends. It also was surprising to hear Lance speak with such venom lacing his words. He wasn’t usually confrontational.

“I’m sorry but we can’t let Arthur leave just yet.” Gwaine joined in. He moved to Arthur and put his arm around his shoulders. “We have a lot of celebrating to do.”

Uther narrowed his eyes. “Celebrate? What is there to celebrate? He _lost_ thanks to all of you.” He leveled a cold stare directly at Merlin. “Especially because of you.”

Gaius walked over to them. “Uther, calm down!”

Uther whirled around to glare at him. “Stay out of this! If you had been doing your job instead of playing...peacemaker...this wouldn’t have happened.” He focused on Arthur again. “We had one goal here and you didn’t deliver!”

Lance cocked his head to the side. “That’s an odd thing to say. As our team coordinator, I would like to think you would be chuffed that we defied expectations and won gold.”

Gwaine shook his head. “Unfortunately, I think you’re wrong. Arthur was supposed to be the conquering hero and single-handedly lift the team on his shoulders and win gold, but more important than that was Arthur winning gold for himself. You don’t give a damn about the team at all, do you Uther?”

“You would do well to show me some respect!” Uther pointed a finger at Gwaine.

Gwaine slowly stepped forward and got in his face. “Or what?”

Arthur looked from one to the other as they stared at each other, almost as if they were trying to burn the other to the ground with the heat of their glares. Finally, he stepped between the two of them. “Thank you, Gwaine.” He gripped his forearm. 

He couldn’t put into words how much it meant to him that he was sticking up for him. When Arthur looked around he saw that all of them were glaring at Uther and looked ready to jump in at a moment’s notice. They were all there for him. If this was what it was like to have friends, Arthur mourned for what he had been missing most of his life.

It didn’t seem like Gwaine was ready to back down, as he continued to glare at Uther for another few seconds, but when he turned to Arthur and Arthur briefly nodded, Gwaine sighed and stepped back towards Lance.

Taking a deep breath, Arthur tried to be as calm as possible when he spoke to his father. “Father, l would appreciate it if you didn’t embarrass me in front of everyone.”

Looking insulted, Uther’s lip curled. “ _I’m_ embarrassing _you_? After what you did today, I am the one who is embarrassed!”

“That’s enough!” 

Arthur almost didn’t recognize Merlin’s voice; it sounded more commanding than he’d ever heard him. 

Merlin stepped right up to Uther. “Arthur did something historic today and you’re not going to take that away from him.”

The expression on Uther’s face was a mixture of pure shock, anger, and disgust. “How dare you speak to me like that! Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“The pompous arse who can’t even congratulate his own son?”

Everyone’s mouth dropped. 

Arthur looked between the two of them and wasn’t sure what to say. He was proud of Merlin for standing up to Uther, especially on his behalf, but he knew the kind of dangerous enemy Uther could be.

“I could make or break your career, boy!” Uther spat out.

“I don’t care!”

When Uther advanced on Merlin, something snapped inside Arthur and he had enough. He grabbed his father’s arm. “You leave him alone!”

Uther blinked at him in surprise. 

Arthur leveled a warning glare at Uther and then turned to Merlin. “Thank you, but I should probably talk to him. I’ll be back. I promise.” He gripped Merlin’s elbow and tried to give a reassuring grin. 

Merlin looked wary but listened to Arthur. While eyeing Uther with scorn, Merlin gradually stepped back.

Clenching his fists tightly, Arthur turned to his father. “You and I need to have a word outside.” 

He moved towards the door, but he didn’t hear his father following. When he turned back, Uther was looking at him as if he had gone mental.

It didn’t affect Arthur this time. He straightened. “ _Now_!” He gritted between clenched teeth. This time, he didn’t wait for his father and just swiveled around and walked to the door. He held the door open for his father.

Uther stood there seething for a moment, but he turned on his heel and followed.

Closing the door, Arthur looked around. He hoped that since they were in a semi-public area that could keep Uther from making a scene and further embarrassing him. With the way Arthur was feeling right now, it might be the only way he could rein in his temper as well.

“Let’s go,” Uther said without looking at him.

“Are you completely daft?” Arthur scoffed. “Did you not hear anything that was said in there? I’m celebrating with my friends.”

“Those _friends_ of yours is why you’re in this mess in the first place, especially that insolent boy! You were more concerned with how he was doing than concentrating on your own performance.”

Arthur was having trouble controlling his emotions. He was breathing heavily and he had to fall back on his years of learning how to control himself and breathed in slowly. “It’s never enough, is it?” His voice was shaky. “”This mess?” You’re calling earning a silver medal a “mess?” I helped bring our team the gold medal. I won silver. Neither of those things has been done for a century, but that’s not enough?”

“I’ve told you, Arthur. You have the potential for true greatness!”

“I already am great!” Arthur roared. Years of pent up rage flooded him. He rubbed his hands over his face and let out a bitter laugh. “I am the current World Champion. I am an Olympic gold medalist. And, let’s not forget, I’m your son. You should already think that I am great.” Arthur sniffed. He wiped away a tear he hadn’t realized had fallen. “If that is not enough for you that is your problem, not mine. Don’t come in here again and treat me like a child. If you don’t love me enough, then at least respect me enough to treat me like an adult.”

Uther’s face went from red with anger to a more subdued look. He didn’t seem to be able to look Arthur in the eye. “Arthur, I just-”

“I don’t want to hear it!” Arthur held up his hand.

Opening his mouth, Uther seemed to want to respond, but looking into Arthur’s fiery eyes, he seemed to think better of it and clammed up.

Arthur bent forward and ran his hands through his hair and when he looked up at his father he shook his head and sighed. “Now, I am going to celebrate my amazing victory with my friends and we’re probably going to get drunk. I know you won’t approve, but I don’t really care.” Without another word he turned around and closed the door in his father’s face.

Arthur rested his head against the door. When he looked down everyone was staring at him. He wasn’t sure how much they heard, but they all looked at him with awe.

Merlin took a couple of steps forward. He was grinning from ear to ear. “I think that deserves a medal.”

“I think I’d prefer a drink.”


	5. Chapter 5

Gwaine took them to a pub called Ape & Bird. While the others went to get a table, Gwaine went to the bar to get a drink. Before they sat down, Lance pulled Merlin aside.

“That was quite impressive today.” Lance smiled.

Merlin shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t medal. I think everyone knows that it should have been you there.”

Lance shook his head with a frown. “Absolutely not. My career is almost over, but yours is really just beginning. I’m beyond thrilled that you got to show everyone - especially here in London - what I have known for some time - that you are the future of the sport.”

Merlin blew out a long breath. “How do you always do that? I think after you retire you should become a motivational speaker.” 

Lance laughed. He hugged Merlin. When they pulled apart, Lance leaned against the wall. “I’ll think about it. But, you know before, I wasn’t actually talking about your finals performance - even though that was wonderful. I was talking about how you stood up to Uther. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

To be honest, Merlin wasn’t sure where that came from either. He looked over at the table where Arthur and Leon were laughing. “I just couldn’t see Uther ruin this for Arthur.”

Lance’s teeth trailed over his bottom lip and he looked down at the ground.

“What?”

When he looked up, Lance was grinning. “Are you finally ready to admit how you feel about Arthur?”

Sneaking another quick peek at Arthur, Merlin sighed. “Fine. You were right. I do like him. It’s just...I don’t know how this happened. I had a crush on him before, but this feels bigger than that. Every time I see him, I feel like smiling. And even when I’m not with him, I feel like smiling because I’m thinking about him. It’s crazy.

Lance nodded. “I know. Love can drive you mad.”

“Wh..wh..what?” Merlin sputtered. “Love?” He glanced around him and leaned in as if they were talking about something top secret. “I never said “love” I said I like him. I’m not in love with him. That’s...that’s...no.”

Lance just smirked. “Sure.”

Merlin groaned. “Don’t say sure like that. You are barking mad. I am not in love with Arthur Pendragon.”

Lance backed away from him. “Whatever you say, Merlin.”

“You’re a wanker!” Merlin whisper-screamed.

Lance was chuckling as he took a seat beside Gwaine, who was lining up filled shot glasses in front of Arthur.

Merlin sat down beside Arthur. Arthur flashed him a warm smile. When Merlin looked in front Lance had a smug smile on his face. Merlin narrowed his eyes.

“As I was explaining to Princess Pendragon…” Gwaine said.

Arthur gave him a two finger salute.

Gwaine snickered and then continued. “I am challenging him to a very simple drinking game.”

“For fuck’s sake, I hope this doesn’t involve bloody James Bond,” Arthur groaned.

“No,” Gwaine answered. “You get an answer wrong you take a shot. You get it right, I drink.”

“Aren’t you going to drink anyway?” Arthur asked.

Gwaine took a shot. “Yeah. So it’s a win/win for me.”

Arthur shrugged. “Fine. I’m sure this won’t be too difficult.”

“Just remember this is Sunset Rum one of the strongest drinks ever.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “I highly doubt a drink with “sunset”in the title can be that strong.”

Gwaine chuckled. “Whatever you say, your highness.” He put his elbows on the table and his chin on top of his hands. “All you have to do is name every character on _Friends._

Merlin shook his head. “Oh, come on, Gwaine. You could have made it a challenge.” He started to laugh until he glanced over at Arthur and his eyes were practically crossed. “Tell me you’ve seen the show?”

Arthur blew out a breath. “I told you I spend most of my time either training or watching football.”

“But how you’ve seen it, right?” Merlin asked as if he were talking to a moron.

“Would you stop asking questions and just help?” Arthur asked in a pitifully whiny voice.

Gwaine held out his hands. “Sorry, no help from the audience.”

Arthur wrung his hands. “Uh….Joey!” He pointed at Gwaine. “Right?” He turned to Merlin. “Right?”

Merlin gave him the thumbs up gesture.

Gwaine easily knocked back the drink. “And?” He asked after he swallowed.

“Uh…”

“Ross.” Merlin coughed, putting his hand over his mouth.

“Merlin!” Gwaine kicked him.

“Clotpole!” Merlin hissed at him.

“What?” Gwaine and Percival said simultaneously.

“You don’t what to know.” Lance offered.

Merlin was rubbing his shin when Arthur blurted out his next answer. “Ro...b?” 

Gwaine held up his hands in the form of an X.

Arthur picked up the glass and took a quick swig. His face pinched right away.

Merlin thought he looked adorable.

“Next?” Gwaine asked.

“I think it’s, uh, I think I remember someone named Grace?”

Merlin hung his head. “That’s an entirely different show.”

Arthur took another drink. He shuddered.

There were three glasses left. 

“Fallon?” Arthur spit out right away seemingly just wanting to rip the band-aid off.

“Eh,” Gwaine made a buzzer sound. “Two more to go.” He said after Arthur drank some more.

“I think...wow, those are really strong!” Arthur picked up the glass and looked at the bottom.

Merlin could tell he was starting to get tipsy. Clearly, he didn’t handle his liquor well. Merlin decided to try and help him out. He pointed towards the back of the room. “Isn’t that Chandler over there?”

Leon looked where Merlin was pointing. “Who’s Chandler?” 

Merlin almost laughed. Clearly, Arthur might not be the only one in need of a _Friends_ marathon.

Arthur squinted at Merlin. Then his eyes bulged and he flashed Gwaine an unearned smug smile. “Chandler.”

Looking between Merlin and Arthur, Gwaine crossed his arms over his chest. “That was excellent.” He gulped down the drink. It was so easy, it looked like he was just drinking water. “Let’s see if you can get the last one without help.”

“Heather?” Arthur guessed unwisely.

Gwaine drummed his hands against the table. “Nope.”

Arthur grumbled but sucked down the last one. 

“So, that’s four to...one and a half, thanks to Merlin’s interference. I think that makes me the winner. You better get used to that Arthur. I’m going to beat the pants off you on Sunday.”

Arthur shook his head. “I don’t think so. Double or nothing. Give me another asinine challenge. I can win. Bring it on.”

Merlin did not think that was a wise idea and turned out he was right. Arthur lost in spectacular fashion when Gwaine challenged him to name five Spice Girl songs.

After the second challenge, Arthur looked like he could barely keep his head up. His speech was slurring and his eyes looked terribly unfocused. 

“Alright, tr-tr-triplet or nothing.” Arthur’s speech was horribly - if a little humorously - slurred.

Merlin stood up and waved his hands. “No. I’m calling it, right now. I’m cutting you off.” He leaned down and put his arm around Arthur’s waist and struggled to get Arthur to stand up.

“I can do it,” Arthur insisted.

“Okay.” Merlin stepped back and Arthur immediately fell into his seat hard. Merlin leaned over him. “Name one type of skill on the high bar?”

“Well, that’s…”Arthur trailed off. His mouth opened and closed several times. Finally, Arthur blew out a raspberry. “I have no fucking idea. I think I’ve had too much to drink.”

Merlin burst out laughing, as did everyone else at the table. Arthur let Merlin help him up.

Arthur’s head lolled to the side as he turned to Gwaine. “But this isn’t over. I’m going to beat you off so bad on Sunday.”

Gwaine’s shoulder shook as he snickered. “You’re going to beat me off? I think I’m looking forward to that.”

“That’s right, I’m going to beat you off!” Arthur yelled again.

“I think…” Merlin snorted as he tried to hold d to hold in his laughter. “You probably shouldn’t scream that out.”

Arthur pouted. “But it’s true.”

Merlin waved to the rest of them and got out of there. He had hoped that the walk might sober Arthur up a little bit, but it didn’t really help. Arthur staggered around and more than once Merlin struggled to keep him from falling.

They got to their room and Merlin leaned against the door to open it as Arthur leaned heavily against him. It took some effort, but he finally got them inside and they tumbled to the ground. The way Arthur landed on top of him knocked the wind out of Merlin for a second.

He kicked the door closed. He pushed at Arthur’s shoulders. “Arthur, get up.”

Arthur only lifted up his head. “”I’m surprised you lasted so long. You’re a lot sturdier than I thought you’d be.”

“Thanks,” Merlin muttered.

Arthur’s glassy eyes focused on Merlin’s lips and he sighed. “Did you know that I have had a massive crush on you since the moment we met?”

Despite how drunk Arthur was, Merlin could tell he was being sincere. Merlin couldn’t help grinning. “I felt the same way.”

It took awhile, but Arthur picked his hand up and placed it against Merlin’s face. He dragged his thumb across Merlin’s bottom lip. “Your lips look so soft. I’ve thought about nothing but kissing you for the last few days.”

“Really?” Merlin knew this was wrong since Arthur was so pissed right now, but he couldn’t help leaning into Arthur’s touch.

Arthur tried to nod, but he couldn’t complete the act and his head ended up on Merlin’s shoulder. “I want to…” He mumbled.

“What?”

Arthur clumsily turned his head. “I want to kiss you, but I’m just…” He sighed. “But I’m going to have a kip, just for a bit.”

Merlin rolled his eyes a little, but he smiled as he stroked Arthur’s back. “Sleep Arthur. You deserve it.”

He let Arthur sleep against him for awhile. It was a little uncomfortable, but it was the most serene Merlin had felt in ages. When it got too much to bear, he managed to crawl out from under Arthur and dragged Arthur to his bed.

It took a lot out of him, but he felt such warmth in his chest when he looked down at Arthur’s sleeping face. Before he settled down in his own bed he left some aspirin and water on Arthur’s bedside table. He turned the light on and went to bed.

 

~*~

 

It was the worst hangover Arthur ever had. Actually, it was the only hangover Arthur had ever experienced. He was very grateful for the aspirin and water Merlin left for him. He was a bit disappointed that Merlin wasn’t there when he woke up. But as more of the previous night came back to him, he was glad he didn’t have to face him just yet.

When he got to the gym, he was prepared to grin and bear it and practice for the pommel horse competition as hard as he could. He started in on that right away and thought of what to say to Merlin.

After he had been practicing for an hour, he ventured off to see what Merlin was up to. Merlin was practicing his floor routine. He was in the middle of doing several cartwheels and then rebounded right into a back handspring. It was one of the complicated elements that he had added to his floor routine.

“You’re going with the more difficult routine?” Arthur blurted out.

Merlin paused before he moved onto his next element. He walked over to Arthur. “I’m thinking about it.”

Arthur nodded. “That’s good.”

“Yeah.” Merlin reached for his water bottle. He eyed Arthur as he swallowed. “How are you feeling?”

Arthur half-shrugged. “A little better after a little workout. I just...um...what I said last night -”

“Are you sorry you said it?”

Merlin didn’t meet his eyes. He nudged his sneaker against a spot on the floor. 

“No. It was the truth.” Arthur smiled when Merlin’s head shot up and he had such a hopeful smile.

Gaius walked up to them. “Are you ready to practice your vault, Arthur?”

He didn’t look at him as he continued to stare at Merlin. ‘Sure.”

Merlin followed after them. “How about we do something fun?” Arthur suggested.

“Right here?” Merlin waggled his eyebrows.

Arthur stumbled as he walked and started laughing. “I’m not that adventurous,” he said when he recovered. “Why don’t you try one of my vaults?” 

Merlin crossed his arms over his chest. He didn’t respond.

“I think you can handle it.” 

Merlin chuckled. “Thank you for the vote of confidence.”

“What do you think, Gaius?” Arthur nudged his side. 

Gaus smiled. “It’s up to Merlin.”

After thinking it over for another minute, Merlin finally shrugged. “Alright. Hopefully, I don’t break my leg.”

“Don’t be so pessimistic.” Arthur patted his back and Merlin went to the runway. “Just remember to do a back handspring on the table.”

“I know. That’s not the part I’m worried about. I don’t think I’ve done a triple twist in my life.” Merlin swung his arms back and forth and stared straight ahead.

“You can do it,” Arthur shouted.

Merlin charged down the runway and executed it all perfectly. His height off the table was beautiful as were his twists. He completed it with a perfect landing. He swung his arms back in victory and beamed at Arthur. 

Arthur clapped loudly for him.

They practiced for a while, but then Merlin left to have dinner with his mother. Arthur took the opportunity to watch some of the others practice. 

After Leon is done on the floor, he comes over to Arthur. He has an impish grin on his face. “How was that hangover this morning?” 

Arthur hung his head and laughed. “I had quite a headache, but I survived.”

Leon clapped him on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t beat yourself about it. I would have probably been in worse shape than you. At least you had Merlin to help.”

Arthur tried to hide his grin. It was ridiculous how just the mention of Merlin’s name had Arthur practically giggling. “That was nice. It wasn’t particularly helpful, but his heart was in the right place.”

Leon cocked his head to the side and scrutinized Arthur. “Wow! You would not have said anything like that when you first got here. Well, you would have said the not “particularly helpful” part…”

Arthur laughed.

“But not the rest of it.” Leon smiled. “You’ve really changed.”

“Is that a good thing?” He tried not to sound as self-conscious as he felt.

Leon sighed. “I’ve always liked you, Arthur. I wouldn’t have roomed with you every year if I didn’t. But, yeah, you could be a bit of a prat.”

“But not anymore?”

Leon held up his hand. “I wouldn’t go that far.”

Arthur threw back his head and laughed.

“But you do seem happier. It looks good on you.”

Arthur nodded. “Thank you.”

Leon looked over Arthur’s shoulder. “Merlin’s back.”

Arthur turned to look right away.

“I’m going to head up to my room,” Leon said.

Arthur nodded. “I’ll see you later.”

As Leon left, Merlin arrived and stood next to Arthur. Arthur swiveled around to face him. “How’s your mother?”

“She’s really well. She’s so happy for me and the whole team. She said to tell you that she’s pleased for you as well.” Merlin gulped and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Tell her thank you for me.”

Merlin bit his lip. “You might be able to do that yourself. She asked me to invite you to dinner tomorrow.”

Arthur’s eyes widened. “Oh.”

Merlin held up his hands. “You don’t have to accept the invitation.”

Looking at Merlin nervously, Arthur shook his head. “Why would I decline? That would be rude. Besides, I really want to get to know her.”

“Really?”

“Yes.” Arthur nodded. “Tell her I accept.”

Saying yes was worth it for the sweetly shy smile on Merlin’s face right then.

 

~*~

 

It felt ridiculous, but Merlin felt butterflies in his stomach. The last time he had a friend over to visit his mother was when he was eleven and his old friend from Ealdor came to visit the both of them.

Merlin was mostly a loner when he was in school. Some of the kids thought he was a freak and it didn’t help that he spent so much time practicing.

So far Arthur had been on his best behavior, though Merlin wouldn’t have expected anything less. Other than how rude he was to him, Arthur was usually very polite.

His mother had made steak and ale pie with Yorkshire pudding for dessert. Arthur made sure to compliment her on all of it.

It felt a little odd to Merlin that it felt like he was introducing a boyfriend to his mother even though he and Arthur had never discussed what they were or were going to be.

“It’s nice to see you and Merlin getting on,” Hunith said as she put some pudding on Arthur’s plate.

Arthur nodded. “It’s been really nice becoming friends.”

“It really concerned me when Merlin told me how you and he weren’t getting along.”

Arthur seemed to choke a little. Merlin patted his back. “Mum, we’ve put that behind us.”

“I can see that.” Hunith shrugged. “As I said it just concerned me.”

Arthur took a sip of water. “I can understand. And I take full responsibility for our troubles.”

Merlin shook his head.

Arthur held up his hand. “It’s alright. It’s true.” He swallowed thickly and put his fork down. “I found out that Merlin had magic.”

Hunith squeaked and her fork clattered against the plate.

Merlin squeezed her hand. “It’s fine, mum. It’s fine.”

When he looked up at Arthur, Merlin could see how difficult this was for him. His face was contorted and he was biting his lip. “I never gave him a chance to explain and I treated him like he was a monster because that’s what my father taught me about magic. It’s no excuse and I can’t tell you how sorry I am about that. I’ve been able to put my prejudice aside and really see how Merlin isn’t at all how I pictured him. He would never cheat. He’s dependable and loyal and honest and sweet and he’s the best friend I’ve ever had.”

Merlin looked away and bit the inside of his cheek to keep from whimpering. It was one of the nicest things he’d ever heard. His mother was having more difficulty than him and her lip was trembling.

“Thank you for saying that. It’s things I’ve known since I was blessed with having Merlin, but it’s always nice to hear.” She patted the top of Arthur’s hand. “I can respect that you’ve acknowledged your mistake and that you’ve apologized. I’m so happy that Merlin has you as a friend.”

Arthur gave her a shy smile. He and Merlin shared a tender look.

After dessert was done, Arthur went to the washroom before they had to leave. Merlin and his mother had a private moment. Hunith touched Merlin’s face. “I can see how much you two care for each other.”

Merlin looked down and grasped her hands.

“Are you in love with him?”

“I…I don’t know. We’ve never even kissed. I know that I care about him so much and I think about him all the time. I want to be more with him, but I’m too scared to say anything.”

Hunith nodded. “I understand. But, Merlin, the future’s not always guaranteed. If you care about him you should let him know.”

Merlin opened his mouth to speak, but he saw Arthur coming down the stairs. He simply nodded at his mother.

She kissed both of their cheeks as they headed out the door. She smiled at them as she leaned against the doorjamb. “Take care of each other.”

Arthur squeezed Merlin’s shoulder. “I promise.”

The ride back to the Olympic Village was filled with weighted silence. Merlin kept thinking over what his mother said. When they got back to the room, they undressed quickly.

Arthur cleared his throat. “You’re mother’s lovely.”

Merlin smiled. “She thinks very highly of you as well.”

Arthur sank down on his bed. “I wish I could have had that.” He frowned as he looked over at Merlin. “I don’t mean to sound maudlin, but I do think about it sometimes. Just once, I wish I could have that – just one memory.”

Merlin rushed over and put his arms around Arthur’s neck and buried his face in Arthur’s neck. Arthur cupped Merlin’s forearm. “I’m sorry, Arthur.”

After a few minutes, Merlin pulled back. He moved to get up, but Arthur grabbed his wrist. Merlin slowly turned and peered up at Arthur. Arthur was staring intensely at Merlin’s eyes and then his gaze traveled down to his lips.

Gulping, Merlin moved his hand to Arthur’s left thigh. He thought about what his mother said. He decided to take her advice…somewhat. “Arthur…why haven’t you kissed me?”

Arthur closed his eyes and blew out a breath. He placed his forehead against Merlin’s. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

Arthur pulled back far enough to look into Merlin’s eyes. He licked his lips, which had Merlin clutching Arthur’s thigh. “Because I already spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about you. I have three more events to go and I want to win. If I kiss you…then it’s over. I won’t be able to concentrate at all. The only thing I’ll be thinking about is how I can fuck you on every flat surface I can find.”

Merlin felt a bitter taste in his mouth and realized he bit his lip so hard, he drew blood. Arthur leaned forward and nosed along Merlin’s throat. Merlin could actually feel all of the blood fleeing from his brain.

“So…” Arthur leaned back. “I’m going to go to the loo and I’m going to have a wank.”

Merlin had to swallow several times to be able to speak. “I’ll do that out here.”

Arthur slowly ran his hand through Merlin’s hair, then he quickly stood up and ran to the bathroom.

Merlin groaned and fell back on the bed.


	6. Chapter 6

Arthur had to avoid Merlin all morning. He was honestly afraid he wouldn’t be able to control himself and mount Merlin in front of everyone. He had a feeling Merlin was having the same problem.

They met up again later in their room. Arthur stood against the door as Merlin checked his phone. “I’m sorry,” Arthur blurted out.

Merlin whirled around. “For what?”

“For what I said last night.” He kept himself anchored to the door to resist temptation.

A slow smile spread over Merlin’s face. “Don’t be sorry. I think I had the best wank of my life last night.”

Arthur chuckled, though he still felt incredibly nervous. “Me, too.”

Merlin walked towards him. “Arthur, I’m alright with nothing happening… _for now,_ ” he stressed.

Arthur nodded. “Alright.”

“I think I know how to keep myself distracted.”

“I’ll bet you do.” Arthur moved away from the door.

“Get your mind out of the gutter, you filthy bugger,” Merlin teased. He held up his phone. “I’ve got my phone and-”

“Your magic?”

Merlin looked like he was pondering this. He held up his hand. His eyes glowed and he whispered something in another language. Arthur stepped up closer. A bright ball yellow light formed in his head. The light soon turned into the shape of two horses frolicking.

“That’s amazing.” Arthur smiled up at Merlin.

He saw Merlin’s eyes cloud over. “Other people haven’t always thought so.” His eyes glowed again, he repeated the spell again, and the image disappeared.

With a sigh, Merlin turned and went over to his bed. Arthur followed him. They sat against the headboard. “Have you always had to hide your magic?”

“Most of the time. Sometimes there were people I thought I could trust and I told them what I was. They all thought I was a freak.”

Arthur grabbed his hand. “You’re not a freak.”

Merlin frowned and cast his eyes downward. “There are more people like your father, Arthur. I wish that I didn’t have to hide my magic, but I’m petrified what would happen to me now if anyone found out.”

Arthur grasped Merlin’s face in his hands and turned Merlin to look at him. “I would never let anything happen to you.” Even if Arthur had to fight his own father, he would do anything to keep Merlin safe.

Merlin gazed into his eyes and his forehead, that had been knitted in terror, relaxed and he nodded. He wrapped his arms around Arthur’s waist and put his head on his shoulder.

They spent the rest of the night in their room. The first thing on the agenda was a mini _Friends_ marathon. “The best of Ross and Rachel,” Merlin said. Arthur found that he quite liked it. He wondered about what other shows he’d missed out on.

For most of the night, they talked about various things. They talked about their first gymnastic competitions. They bonded over the fact they had both been bullied in school. Arthur told Merlin what it was like being home schooled.

When the topic moved to good luck charms – Merlin said he didn’t really believe in it – Arthur got up and took out his mother’s pendant. He walked back to the bed. “I never showed you my mother’s pendant, have I?”

Merlin shook his head.

Arthur stroked the image on it. “For the longest time, I didn’t know what this bird on the pendant was. I looked it up when I was sixteen.” He handed it to Merlin.

Merlin looked up at him with wide eyes. “It’s a merlin.”

“How’s that for a sign?”

Merlin’s smile was bright and beautiful, like him.

As much as he wanted to, when Merlin asked Arthur to sleep in the same bed, Arthur shook his head. The temptation to do more would be too great.

The next day it’s finally time for the individual events. Merlin would be competing in the Floor finals and after that Arthur and Gwaine in the pommel horse event.

Arthur could see that Merlin was a huge ball of nerves. He kept practicing on the floor and mumbling to himself.

Taking time from his own practice, Arthur walked over to Merlin. Merlin rubbed the back of his neck and barely looked at him.

Arthur cleared his throat. When Merlin finally gave him his full attention, Arthur nodded towards him. “How you doin’?” He said in his best Joey impression.

Merlin’s eyes bulged and then he slowly started to snicker, which turned into a full blown laugh. Arthur soon joined him. After a minute, they both were catching their breath. “Thank you,” Merlin said.

Arthur nodded with a small smile. “It’s my pleasure.”

Merlin started moving from foot to foot and wringing his hands. “I’m so nervous.”

Arthur pulled him aside. “If you’re too nervous about the new routine. You can go back to the old one.”

Frowning, Merlin shook his head. “I know I can do this. I’m not going to back away because I’m scared.”

Arthur squeezed his hands. “You can do this.”

Merlin’s eyes trailed to his mouth. Arthur wanted nothing more to lean over and kiss him, but he knew it wasn’t the right time.

He looked over his shoulder and checked for cameras and then kissed Merlin softly on the cheek. When Arthur pulled back, Merlin looked up at him with so much faith and trust, Arthur felt such affection for him in that moment that he had a hard time walking away.

While he was walking back to begin practice, Gwaine joined him. “You and Merlin, huh?”

Arthur gave him a questioning look.

“I saw you two just now,” Gwaine replied. “He really trusts you.”

Arthur looked down and wasn’t sure what to say.

Gwaine touched his arm and they stopped walking.

The expression on Gwaine’s face was sincere. It was a rare serious moment for Gwaine. “Just don’t hurt him. He really cares about you.”

Arthur gulped. He took a deep breath. “I-I really care about him, too.”

“Good because I would hate to have to kick your arse. I’ve grown to like you, princess.”

Arthur smiled. “Likewise.”

“So let’s go and watch your boyfriend show everyone what team GB can do.” He held up his hand.

Arthur clutched it and chuckled.

 

~*~

 

Merlin stepped onto the floor. The routine was fairly similar to his old one with just a few – more difficult variations. He started with a handstand forward roll. He did a high energy tumbling pass that covered the entire floor. He landed beautifully. He went the other way and did a double back with a twist. He did a few of the other required elements, including a beautiful flair move that he used on the pommel horse.

He took a deep breath as he prepared to do his last series of passes. The crowd cheered with the height he got on his flips and even more when he did a back 1 ¾ with 1 ½ twist. He stuck the landing perfectly. When he was done, he knew he had given his best performance and he beamed at everyone. Lance and Leon were in the stands cheering for him.

When he got off the floor, he saw Gwaine and Arthur cheering madly. Merlin knew that no matter what he was happy with what he delivered out there. Kilgharrah shook his hand and gave Merlin a rare smile.

There were cheers from the crowd when Merlin received his score – a 15.533. It was enough to put him in second place for now. Three more gymnasts were set to perform, including Leon.

“Congratulations,” Leon told him as he walked by the bench where Merlin was getting his long pants out of his bag.

“Thank you. Good luck.”

Leon nodded and smiled.

Unfortunately for Merlin, all of the other performers were having excellent showings. The last gymnast before Leon got a 15.655 so Merlin was down to third place. Merlin watched Leon perform. A part of him was selfish and hoped that he could hold onto a medal position, but he was really enjoying watching Leon’s strong performance. He was happy for his friend.

When Leon stepped off the floor, Merlin was the first to congratulate him. Leon’s difficulty rating was the same as Merlin’s so it was possible his score could better Merlin’s. If Leon got anything higher than 16.000 he could win gold.

There were cheers from the crowd when Leon’s score was announced. He received a 15.810. He had won silver which effectively knocked Merlin down to fourth. Leon’s mouth was open and he looked stunned. Merlin went over and hugged him.

It was a bittersweet feeling, but Merlin was glad that he had done a more difficult routine and knew that having gained some confidence it would help him in the future.

Arthur and Gwaine weren’t there since they had to prepare for their event which was up next. Merlin got changed quickly so he could watch them from up in the stands and see Leon’s medal ceremony. When he sat next to Lance, he looked up at Merlin sympathetically.

“It was a hell of a performance, Merlin,” Lance said. “I’m sorry you can’t be up there with him.” He nodded down at Leon.

“Maybe next time,” Merlin spoke with confidence.

Lance looked impressed. “Definitely.”

They had to wait awhile for the pommel horse event. Gwaine would be performing third and Arthur second to last. Gwaine always had a strong showing in this event and his confidence came through in his performance. He had a few technical issues, but it was a solid effort. With a score of 14.888, it was a question mark whether it would be enough for a medal.

Merlin prayed and hoped that Arthur would do well. He started to worry that he was too much of a distraction and hoped that Arthur had gotten enough practice. Looking around, 

Merlin noticed for the first time that Uther wasn’t there. He wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

Arthur started off strong. To the untrained eye, it looked like a fairly flawless performance but at times his hips weren’t high enough and he took a hop on his dismount. His final score was 15.425. That put him in third with one performer to go.

The last performer, the US team’s Danell Leyva, touched the horse at one point and his moves weren’t as fluid throughout. Even without seeing his scores, it was safe to say that Arthur would win bronze.

To be in the crowd as they cheered with such enthusiasm felt almost as overwhelming as being out on the floor. It was clear to Merlin that the crowd really loved Arthur and it made him smile.

At his medal ceremony, Arthur looked so proud. It might have been an act, but Merlin felt like he was starting to be able to tell the difference. He looked just as happy having the bronze medal put around his neck as when he won gold and silver.

When they see each other again they’re in a crowd with the rest of their team and other on-lookers. Merlin really wishes he could get him alone and give him a hug…and maybe more. But he knew Arthur’s rule and would just have to keep his hormones in check for now.

“I told you I’d beat you,” Arthur gloated to Gwaine.

Gwaine smirked. “Actually, I believe your words were you’d beat me off.”

Arthur’s eyes widened and he looked red with – anger or rage, Merlin wasn’t sure.

“I’m still waiting for that,” Gwaine continued.

“Keep waiting,” Arthur said as he stalked off.

Merlin couldn’t help snickering and Arthur shot him a dirty look.

As they walked back to the village - Percival, Gwaine, and Leon behind them – Arthur glanced at Merlin. “You didn’t see my father there, did you?”

Merlin sighed. “I’m sorry, no.”

Arthur shrugged. The laugh that followed was hollow. “It’s for the best.”

That night, they hung out in the Olympic Village lounge with Gwen and Lance. Arthur teased Merlin mercilessly when he made a stuttering fool of himself in front of Michael Phelps. For that, Merlin gives Arthur the silent treatment in their room, though it doesn’t last.

They have another _Friends_ marathon. This time, it’s a “Monica and Chandler” night. Arthur’s asleep before they finish the third episode. Merlin thought about waking Arthur up and letting him go to his bed, but he’s too warm and sated having Arthur’s head on his chest. He let the light from the TV lull him to sleep as he put his arm around Arthur.

 

~*~

 

When Arthur woke up the next morning he felt more refreshed than he'd felt in weeks. In his mind, he knows what today is. It’s not only his final day of competition at these Olympics, but he’ll be performing in the Vault final. It’s a moment he’s dreamed about for years. He would have thought he would wake up with a pit in his stomach, but it is quite the opposite.

He started to stretch and that’s when he looked up and saw Merlin. Merlin was still asleep. He looks like such an angel Arthur doesn’t have the heart to wake him. He watched him sleep until Merlin slowly blinked his eyes open. When his gaze focused on Arthur, a sweet, sleepy smile crossed his face.

Everything inside of him wanted to kiss Merlin in that moment, but Arthur held off. It wouldn’t be long now. They just had to get through this day. A day where they were directly competing against each other again.

“Good morning.”

Merlin smiled. “Morning.”

Arthur sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

“Wait.” Merlin reached out and grasped his wrist. “Arthur?”

“I know this is going to sound silly. I don’t want to make huge assumptions because I know how much better you are than me so it’s probably not even something I have to worry about, but I feel I have to-“

Arthur put his finger against Merlin’s lips. “Breathe. And then use your words like a normal human.”

Merlin rolled his eyes and shoved Arthur’s lightly in his shoulder. He did take a deep breath. “What happens if I were to win gold today?” He pursed his lips. “I know how much this means to you and I don’t know how I would live with myself if I took this away from you.”

“I swear, Merlin if you even think of doing less than your absolute best I will strangle you with every medal you win.”

“Well, that’s violent.” Merlin hopped over him.

It was Arthur’s turn to grab his wrist. He turned Merlin toward him. “I mean it, Merlin. If you beat me then that’s how it was supposed to be. I will just come back in four years and beat you or whoever I have to. This is not life or death. No matter what happens, I’m still going to care for you.”

Merlin’s eyes filled with tears and he threw his arms around Arthur’s neck. Arthur held him for a long time. He buried his face and his neck and inhaled his scent. Clearing, his throat he stepped back. “We have a long day. We need to get ready.”

A few hours later and Arthur isn’t at all sure if he’s ready for his performance in rings. He can’t get his mind of his vaults. He made Merlin promise to practice so he isn’t there to distract him.

He almost jumped out of his skin, when Lance came up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Lance.” Arthur put his hand to his chest and tried to catch his breath.

“Are you ready for this?” Lance asked.

Arthur blew out a breath. “Not at all.”

Lance smiled. “That means you’re ready.” He patted Arthur’s shoulder and walked away.

Arthur is set to perform first and Lance will perform second.

When Arthur is hoisted up and reached for the rings he took a deep breath and managed to clear his mind of only what he needed to get through the routine. He felt steady and strong, which were the most important things in this event. It almost felt like he was in another world while he was performing. He can’t really tell if he’s doing well or not. But when he released the rings with a two and a half twist and stuck his landing, the roar of the crowd told him what he needed to know. His scores confirmed that – he got a 15.500.

All that’s left for him to do is wait. He still felt a pit in his stomach because his mind was now focused on his vault. He watched Lance’s performance. Lance had some of the same struggles he had during the qualifying round. It was a good performance, but Arthur wasn’t sure if it would be enough for a medal.

Lance came over to him and sat next to him on the bench. Arthur patted his thigh. “You did great.”

“Thank you.”

At the end of the competition, no one came close to Arthur and he won gold. It’s a thrilling moment and it helped alleviate some of the stress he was feeling over the vault final. Lance gave him a big, warm hug and even though showing emotion like that still disconcerted him, he returned it easily.

The moment he stepped up to the podium to receive his gold medal, Arthur felt a surge of emotions. He didn’t feel close to tears, but he was emotional and his smile felt shaky. When he looked up in the stands and saw Merlin, he was partially annoyed because he wasn’t practicing, but the moment wouldn’t have felt complete without Merlin.

After a few photos and interviews, Arthur hurried off to get ready. In his practice vaults, he felt like something was missing. He was landing everything perfectly. His legs were perfectly positioned, but still, something felt off.

The way the draw shook out, Merlin would be performing fourth and Arthur would be going last. Merlin walked up to him and they just stared at each other. Arthur could see so many emotions on Merlin’s face – fear, trust, hope…love? Arthur tried to forget that last word. He really, really couldn’t think about that right now.

Merlin’s smile was watery. “Good luck.”

“Good luck. I know you’ll be amazing,” Arthur replied.

As they walked by each other, they held gripped each other’s hand briefly.

They practiced and waited in separate corners. By the time Merlin’s turn had come the highest scorer so far had received a score of 15.600.

Merlin bounced on his feet and then walked to the runway. There was a look of peace on Merlin’s face right before he took off on the runway. His flip onto the table was precise and his height and extension in the air were beautiful. His feet remained firmly planted on the ground when he landed.

He ran over to do his second vault. The same look was on his face when he took off. He did a handspring onto the table and his height was even better in the air the second time, his body perfectly tucked in. His landing was perfect once again.

Arthur was clapping as loudly as the crowd when Merlin smiled and bowed to everyone. Merlin walked over and just smiled. Arthur put his hands to his lips. He couldn’t blow Merlin a kiss, but from Merlin’s nod, he knew what the gesture meant.

Arthur closed his eyes when the crowd erupted in applause. He knew what it meant before he turned around and looked at Merlin’s score. He got a 15.800. Merlin was now in first place.

That did nothing to alleviate the pressure for Arthur. Gaius tried to talk to him, but Arthur really couldn’t hear him. He started hopping from foot to foot and he stretched. He played with his grips and did everything he could to calm down. Finally, with only one performer left before it was his turn, Arthur sat down and took his mother’s pendant out. He kissed the bird in front. It had multiple meaning to him now and he felt a calm wash over him.

After the last performer went and they got their score, Arthur went over to the chalk stand. He felt odd. It wasn’t a bad feeling, just strange. It was a serenity he’d never had before a vault. He looked up at the ceiling. He didn’t know how, but he felt that his mother was with him right now. Before he took off down the runway, he closed his eyes and exhaled.

He ran and did a back handspring onto the table and when he propelled himself off the table he felt like he was in the air for an eternity. His spotted the ground and placed his feet for a perfect landing. If he didn’t have to go again, he thought he might collapse on the spot.

But he had one more to go, so he headed back and looked straight ahead. That peaceful feeling from before was still there. He charged down the runway again and did another back handspring onto the table. This time, he did a triple twist in the hair and everything about it felt right - the timing, his extension, his legs, and toes. When he stuck his landing that just completed it. Arthur didn’t think he could do any better than that.

As he walked off the stage, he could feel his face getting wet. He didn’t wipe the tears away. Merlin came right to him and he embraced him with strong arms. Arthur started to cry.

Merlin stepped back and held his hand as he looked up at the scoreboard. Arthur couldn’t look. Five minutes later, he could hear the crowd screaming and clapping, but he couldn’t dare hope. Not until he looked at Merlin’s face. His smile was radiant and tears flowed freely.

“What is it?” Arthur asked with a shaky voice.

“16.1000,” Merlin whispered.

As soon as he really heard what Merlin said, Arthur could feel his knees buckle and he sank to the ground. Merlin let him weep for a few moments but soon helped him up. Gaius handed him the UK flag. He didn’t feel like running around with it when he won the gold on rings, but he did this time. He unfurled the flag and he grabbed Merlin’s hand and took him with him; this was Merlin’s moment, too.

Arthur’s smile only faltered slightly when he looked up into the stand. All of his teammates and Merlin’s mother were there and their cheering was heartwarming, but it was the sight of his father that stunned him. His father nodded down at him and Arthur could see a small smile on his face.

Arthur could feel fresh tears. When he came back to the bench, he was met by Morgause. “Hello, Morgause.”

She grinned. “You’ve done it. Two gold medals in one day. But I know this one must mean a little more to you. Tell us why.” Morgause thrust the microphone in his face.

“My mother…” Arthur could feel a hitch in his throat, but he went on. “My mother was a world champion in vault and she never got to compete in the Olympics. I wanted to do this for her and I wanted to make her proud.” He wiped his eyes. “And I feel like I’ve done that now.”

“I would dare say she’s been proud of you this whole time.” Morgause nodded. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you so much.” He turned and Merlin was still close by. “Wait.” He reached for Merlin and drew him close. “This is Merlin’s first individual medal. You should probably talk to him. You can expect big things from him in the future.”

Merlin stared at him with wide eyes. Morgause introduced herself to Merlin who seemed like he was speechless. Arthur laughed watching Merlin trying to answer her simple questions. Everything after that was a blur. There was the usual – hugs from friends, photographs, more interviews. Arthur didn’t get another moment to think until they were waiting for the medal ceremony.

Merlin was standing by the wall and just staring at him with a soppy smile on his face.

Arthur stepped over to him and stood by him. “I couldn’t have done this without you. You have been so patient with me and I’m so grateful.”

“You could have done this without me,” Merlin said.

Arthur didn’t know if Merlin was trying to be humble but he wouldn’t hear it.

“No, I couldn’t. This moment means so much to me and I didn’t know that anything could be more special than winning gold in this event, but to get to stand beside you up there... I think this is the most perfect moment in my life.”

Merlin’s eyes were shining and he opened his mouth to say something, but then the ceremony began. Arthur felt so proud watching Merlin walk out there.

Arthur walked out there and it was like he was floating. When Merlin stood up on the podium and was awarded his medal, Arthur thought he might cry again. A few tears did spill when he got his medal and the anthem began. He managed to keep it together and not completely break down.

He is more than happy to take picture after picture with Merlin and the bronze medalist, Edwin Sokolov. He tried not to be too handsy with Merlin but he didn’t hesitate when one of the photographers asked him to put his hand around Merlin’s waist.

After they’re done with that, the rest of the team want to take them out to celebrate again. Arthur didn’t want to be rude but the only one he wanted to celebrate with was Merlin. Gwaine seemed to catch what was going on and agreed to just let them go after they had a couple of drinks with all of them at the lounge at the Olympic Village.

Arthur could feel an entirely different set of nerves as they walked into the room. Before he could say anything to Merlin, he felt a buzzing in his pocket. When he fished out his phone, he saw a text from his father. It simply read “Congratulations.” It still moved Arthur. He showed it to Merlin.

“That’s wonderful.”

Arthur kept catching Merlin touching his silver medal. Arthur smiled. “It looks good.”

Merlin tossed his head from side to side. “Not as good as yours. Mr. Multiple Gold Medalist.” There was no trace of real jealousy in his voice.

“Do you want to try them on?”

Merlin raised his eyebrows and laughed. “Sure.”

Arthur took both of his medals off. He walked over to Merlin and gently placed them around his neck. He took a step back to admire the way they looked on Merlin. “I told you that you looked good in gold.” He drifted closer to Merlin and stroked the medals draped over Merlin’s chest. He bit his lip.

Merlin peered up at him through his lashes. “Arthur?”

“Hm?” Arthur has moved up to stroking Merlin’s face.

“Your Olympics are over.” Merlin put his hand on Arthur’s neck. “So why aren’t you kissing me?”

“Because I am really fucking stupid.” Arthur groaned.

He held Merlin’s face in his hands and stroked his thumbs over his cheeks. Finally, he leaned in and softly pressed his lips against Merlin’s. They were barely touching, but Arthur could feel Merlin’s lips were softer than he’d ever imagined. When Merlin groaned and put his arm around Arthur’s neck, Arthur pressed his lips harder. All of the pent-up feelings he’d felt for Merlin came rushing forth and the kiss escalated quickly.

Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin and crushed him to his body. Lifting Merlin, who wrapped his legs around Arthur in the blink of an eye, he spun them around and walked Merlin backward towards the door. As Merlin’s back hit the door, he moaned and Arthur took advantage and licked into Merlin’s mouth. Their tongues slid against each other and Merlin sucked on the tip of Arthur’s tongue.

Their hands became busy with Merlin sifting them through Arthur’s hair and Arthur squeezing Merlin’s arse. Merlin cried out when Arthur set him down and backed away. Arthur panted and looked at Merlin with lust-filled eyes. “Oh, God I’ve never done this before. And I don’t know what I’m doing, but…” He licked his lips and looked down at Merlin’s crotch. “Fuck, I want your cock in my mouth.”

Merlin just lets out a small squeak and stared at him with bulging eyes. A second later his eyes were glowing and their clothes were scattered on the floor.

Arthur’s mouth fell open and he looked. “Jesus, Merlin, you could have been doing that the whole time?”

“Shut up,” Merlin moaned. He grabbed Arthur around his neck and hauled him for another kiss. Their tongues tangled with a ferocity that had Arthur cross-eyed and thrust his hard cock against Merlin’s hip.

He broke away from the kiss and licked a stripe down Merlin’s chest. Once he was on his knees, he wasted no time in grabbing Merlin’s rigid cock and sucking him down to the base. He gagged but didn’t stop.

When he pulled away, Merlin was banging his head against the door. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Arthur used his hand and his mouth and bobbed up and down. He paid most attention to Merlin’s leaking tip.

“Are you sure you’ve never…” Merlin trailed off with a moan.

Arthur sucked hard until his cheeks hollowed out.

“I’m so close, Arthur!” Merlin cried. He thrust his hands in Arthur’s hair. “I’m going to come! I’m going to come!”

Arthur thought about pulling off, but he wanted to taste Merlin. When Merlin came with a strangled moan, Arthur swallowed down as much as he could before he pulled back and licked at Merlin’s spurting tip.

When Merlin was wrung out and boneless, he slid to the floor. Arthur climbed into his lap and gave him an open mouth kiss as he fisted at his dick. It was over in three tugs. He groaned into Merlin’s mouth and clutched at his shoulder as he shuddered.

After a few minutes, he climbed off Merlin and sat beside him with his head on his shoulder. Merlin snickered. “I hope no one heard us.”

Arthur sighed. “I don’t fucking care.”

They both laughed.


	7. Chapter 7

Even though they both wanted to do much more, they were too tired and Merlin still had one more competition left. They dragged themselves to Arthur’s bed and slept wrapped in each other’s arms.

They stared into each other’s eyes. Merlin felt he had no worries in the world.

Arthur wrapped his arms around Merlin’s waist and grinned. “I don’t know what’s better – a gold medal or this moment?”

Merlin looked down and blushed, which he felt silly for considering what they did the previous night. “I just want to stay here.”

Arthur sighed. “I know, but we have to watch Lance’s last event and you have an event of your own.”

Merlin nodded. “Alright. If you have to go and make sense.”

Arthur chuckled.

Merlin stroked Arthur’s cheek and gave him a soft kiss. “I love that I can do that now.”

“You and me both.” Arthur pressed Merlin to him and gave him a deeper kiss, biting down on Merlin’s lower lip, and sucked it into his mouth.

Merlin writhed against him. After a few minutes, he found willpower he didn’t know he had and pushed Arthur away and got up.

Getting dressed was difficult since they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, but they finally made it out of the room. Merlin went to the gym to practice his high bar, while Arthur went to meet up with their teammates to watch Lance.

Merlin approached Lance to wish him good luck.

Lance hugged him.

“I can’t believe this is it,” Merlin said with genuine sadness. The sport was really going to miss Lance. He was really going to miss him.

“I’m retiring. I’m not dead. We’ll see each other again.” Lance chuckled.

“But not performing,” Merlin whined.

“There’s always old footage.”

“I know.” Merlin nodded. “Go and have your stupid perfect, wonderful life.”

Lance looked down and smiled. They both looked over at the stands. Arthur and Gwen were sitting together and chatting.

Merlin sighed. “He looks so happy and relaxed.”

Lance shook his head. “You are arse over tit for him, aren’t you.” He didn’t want for Merlin to respond. He held up his hands. “I know, I know. You’re not in love.”

Merlin scuffed his shoe against the floor. “But…I think I am.”

Lance turned to Merlin with an elated expression. “Merlin, that’s great.”

“It is?” He didn’t mean it to come out as a question, but it did.

Lance touched his arm. “Are you not sure?”

Merlin sighed. “No, I am. I’m sure. It’s just…I don’t know what happens now.”

“You'll be in love. Be happy. Try and make it work for the rest of your life if you can.” Lance said as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

Merlin didn’t know what to say and just hugged him. He pulled back. “You’re a wanker, Lance Du Bois.”

“You’re an idiot, Merlin Emrys.” He flashed Merlin a big, friendly smile.

Merlin returned it. “Thank you for being my friend.”

“Thank you.”

Merlin was able to get in some more practice, but he snuck away to watch Lance’s performance on the parallel bar. It was Lance’s best event and that didn’t change that day. He was so good he made every move, every pirouette, every flip, look so easy. His dismount was just more perfection on display.

The crowd was almost on their feet when he was done. With his score of 15.677, Lance easily won gold at the event. Merlin wished he could be at the medal ceremony, but Kilgharrah is putting him through his paces.

It’s not long before the event is about to start when Arthur comes to see him. He dragged him to one of the restrooms. He checked it to make sure no one was there and kissed Merlin senseless. “Good luck out there.”

Merlin opened his mouth. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell Arthur he loved him, but he decided to wait. “Thank you.”

Merlin hated, hated the waiting. He was going to be the fifth man to perform on the high bar. He passed the time by staying loose and stretching. Occasionally, he would look out in the audience. It was wonderful to see his mother looking so happy and hopeful. It was a little weird seeing Arthur up in the stands instead of somewhere close by. This was the first event he was truly on his own.

When it was his turn, he spat into his hands and waited to be lifted up. As he was performing he didn’t really feel like he was doing anything better than before. His movements on every swing and release were fluid and precise, but his mind was clear and he felt relaxed and he felt confident. He finished with a stuck landing and he threw his hands up in the air.

These Olympics had been magical, but knowing that it was over now, there was a certain weight that felt lifted from his shoulders. He just wanted to spend the rest of the time with Arthur and his team and have some fun. This was the beginning to that.

He looked up at everyone that he loved and blew a big kiss to them. He hugged Kilgharrah, who laughed and returned the hug. Merlin already felt jubilant, but he thought he would fall to his knees when he saw his score – a 15.777. He was now in first place. He covered his face and could feel his eyes watering.

There were three more performers to go. Merlin sat down on the bench and he tried to calm down. A gold medal wasn’t everything. He had to keep this in perspective, but he couldn’t stop thinking...what if he did win?

When the next performer only got a 15.433, Merlin knew he would win a medal no matter what. He felt a little more relieved after that. He asked Kilgharrah to tell him the next two scores. The next one was 15.333. So definitely silver then.

Merlin almost put his head between his legs as the next one performed, but he knew how that would look. He stood up and paced. Standing up, he almost bumped into a cameraman. 

When the next score came, he heard the crowd screaming and he held his breath. He looked up at his mother and Arthur. They were holding hands. His mother was jumping up and down and Arthur was crying.

“Uchimura got a 15.600,” Kilgharrah whispered.

Merlin let out his breath. “That means…”

“You’ve got the gold, my boy.”

Merlin let out a quiet sob. He started to shake all over. He hugged Kilgharrah again and hugged Gaius. When Kilgharrah handed him the flag, he didn’t know what to do. He just held it over his head and beamed up at his mother and Arthur.

He did the interview on autopilot. He has no idea what anyone is saying to him as he took picture after picture. He doesn’t know if he’s smiling or making the stupid faces ever. He just wanted to get his medal and get to be with his loved ones.

When it’s time for the ceremony he felt like he might throw up. He has to take many deep breaths. He walked out to the stage with shaky legs. His nerves calm down when he can actually see his mother and see Arthur. His name is called and he steps up to the top tier. It felt strange to be there alone.

The medal is placed around his neck and it felt so odd and different, even from the team gold medal. It felt bittersweet to be up there alone. But he felt so proud. He managed to keep it together while the anthem was being played.

Merlin wanted to tell the interviewers and photographers to sod off, but he was polite and tried to make some kind of sense with his answers. He was happy to take pictures with the other medalists, but when it was finally over, he made a beeline for the stands.

He didn’t know if it was against the rules and didn’t care. His mother hugged him within an inch of his life. He proudly displayed the gold medal to her. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

She wiped the tears from his face. “I always knew this moment would come. I love you.”

“I love you, mum.” He wrapped her in another hug.

Over her shoulder, he looked at Arthur. His grin was so wide and bright, Merlin felt warmed by it. He wished he could really show Arthur right now how he felt.

Gwaine insisted on taking them again to the Ape & Bird pub. They sat down at a table. Before Gwaine could say anything, Merlin cut him off. “Arthur is not getting drunk and I am not getting drunk. I just want to celebrate and walk out of here able to walk and think for myself.”

Gwaine pouted. “You’re no fun.”

He got up and got them all a round of beer. Merlin stood up to toast. He looked around at all of them. “I wanted to tell you all that I love you. My mum was always the only real family I had. She was wonderful and I wouldn’t change how I grew up, but I was lonely and didn’t have many friends. You all are the first real family I’ve ever had and this experience has been one I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Merlin sat down. Even Gwaine didn’t seem to know what to say to that.

Arthur squeezed Merlin’s hand under the table. He lifted up his glass. “To family.”

“To family.” Everyone repeated.

 

~*~

 

The next day it was time to pack up and leave the Olympic Village. They weren’t being kicked out, but with their part of the Olympics over, it made sense to go back home. That had always been the plan, but now Arthur truly didn’t know what he would do without being able to see Merlin every day.

They hardly said anything to each other. Neither of them had brought much so it didn’t take long to finish packing.

As they wheeled their luggage to the front door, Arthur felt his chest constrict. He grabbed Merlin’s hand. “I’m going back to my flat after this. I don’t know if you’re going to your mum’s or you have your own flat, but I just thought maybe you might want to spend a few more days with me?”

Merlin shook his head. He looked surprised. “You still want to spend more time with me?”

Arthur’s brow furrowed. “Why wouldn’t I?”

Merlin shrugged. “I don’t know. I just thought, I feared, that now that this is over that things would…go back to normal.”

“I don’t want them to go back to normal. Merlin, I was tired and lonely and angry so often before and you’ve changed me and I don’t want to go back. I want to be with you.” Arthur held onto his hands.

“You want to be with me?”

Arthur nodded.

“You want to date openly or in secret? I know that your dad-“

“I don’t care what my father thinks. I don’t care what the newspapers or the media or anyone thinks. I’m gay and you’re who I want.” He chewed on the bottom of his lip. “If you want to be with me.”

Merlin let out a happy sob and grabbed Arthur’s face and kissed him soundly.

Arthur put his arms around him and pressed their bodies together. He deepened the kiss. Merlin moaned. He placed one more peck on Arthur’s lips before he pulled away just enough to look into Arthur’s eyes. “You know there’s one more things I want to do here.”

Arthur grinned. “Oh, yeah. What’s that?”

They spend the rest of the day at the gym the trampoline artists practice at jumping up and down on the trampoline. It’s the most fun Arthur had in ages. Watching Merlin smiling and laughing filled him with such happiness.

 

~*~

 

Merlin was really impressed with Arthur’s flat. It’s sparsely decorated with very little color – mostly just black and white - since Arthur barely spent any time there. The only splash of color in the room were the colorful, abstract paintings Arthur said his sister Morgana put up. Merlin is impressed with her taste. 

They started off making out heavily, but the exhaustion of the competition finally caught up to them and they’re asleep before either could get their shirts off.

The next day, they spend most of their time with the team. Despite being around sports all the time during the Olympics, they end up getting roped into going to watch Gwaine’s brother Daegel’s football game.

Merlin is impressed with the younger boys skills and he and Arthur get to share their love of the game. It reminds Merlin of how they first bonded.

That night they go to Hunith’s house to have dinner. Hunith ended up showing Arthur multiple photo albums.

“Wow, your ears actually look smaller when you were younger. What happened?”

Merlin threw popcorn at his head.

They ended up chatting so late that Hunith invited them both to stay over. Merlin wanted to get Arthur alone, but he doesn’t have the heart to tell his mother no.

She put them in separate bedrooms – “Not because I don’t want any funny business between the two of you. The beds in each room are too small for multiple people.”

The term “funny business” had Merlin red-faced and wanting to dig a hole and climb in it. Arthur just laughed.

Despite the size of the bed, Arthur snuck into Merlin’s room and they cuddled together.

“I don’t think I can sleep now without my arms around you,” Arthur purred in Merlin’s ear.

Merlin almost melted on the spot.

They spent most of the next day at Arthur’s flat sleeping in and watching tv - more _Friends_ and Merlin’s guilty pleasure _EastEnders_. After three episodes, Arthur accused Merlin of turning him into a “lazy arse.”

While Merlin was making them lunch he noticed that Arthur was pacing in the den. Something seemed slightly off with him all day. Merlin assumed Arthur was as preoccupied with the thought of making love for the first time. Just the thought thrilled Merlin - and scared him.

Arthur walked into the kitchen and leaned against the black island. He cleared his throat. “Merlin, I wanted to ask you to do something.

Merlin gulped and put down the knife. “What is it?”

“I wanted to know if you wanted to come and see my childhood home?”

Merlin was sure he must have looked slightly disappointed. “Is that it?”

Arthur nodded. “I’m sorry for acting weird about it. It just felt like an odd request to make. The property’s abandoned. Nobody lives there. My father just keeps it up, I guess as a reminder of happier times. Happier times with my mother.” Arthur finished with a tinge of sadness and bitterness in his voice.

“I’d love to see the place where my boyfriend grew up.”

When Arthur grinned, Merlin’s face lit up. He’d been saying the word “boyfriend” over and over that day since Arthur always had that reaction.

The house wasn’t far from Arthur’s flat. Arthur said he hadn’t been there in a few years. As they stepped out of the car, Merlin’s mouth was open wide enough to draw in flies. “It looks like a castle,” he murmured.

“It’s what my mother wanted. It was the home of her dreams. My father did anything for her.”

Merlin came around. He put his arm around Arthur’s waist. “It sounds like he loved her very much.”

“She was his greatest love.” Arthur looked down and cleared his throat. “Let’s go inside.”

It surprised Merlin that the place looked so immaculate. 

“Uther employs a service once a month to clean the property inside and out,” Arthur said as he watched Merlin, seemingly reading his mind.

Merlin wiped his hand along an ornate table in the foyer. “That is very clean. It’s cleaner than my flat.”

“I’m sure that’s no great feat,” Arthur teased.

Merlin stuck his tongue out and Arthur laughed.

He showed Merlin around the downstairs. There wasn’t much to see. There was no furniture in the kitchen or the living room, though the front room had an empty bookshelf and mahogany desk.

Putting his hand on the banister and looking up, Arthur swallowed. He glanced over his shoulder at Merlin. “The second floor was where mine and my father’s bedrooms were.” 

As Arthur continued the tour he showed him the rest of the second floor - there was also a music room there, another bedroom, and three bathrooms. The rooms had one dresser in them each. The beds had fresh linens and sheets on them. 

Merlin looked down at the clean red satin sheets with his lips pursed.

Arthur sighed. “A few times a year my father sleeps here. He doesn’t think I know that.”

For the first time, Merlin felt a twinge of sympathy for Uther. 

They left the bedroom and Arthur’s step faltered on the next set of stairs. He looked almost green.

Merlin put his hand on Arthur’s shoulder and he jumped. “We don’t have to go up there if you don’t want to.”

“After I got locked in the closet, I never went up to the third floor again. I was so agitated for such a long time, we moved soon after.” Arthur’s hand tightened on the banister. He bit his lip and forced out a laugh. “It’s just a few rooms. It can’t hurt me, right?”

Merlin just nodded and slipped his hand into Arthur’s. They slowly climbed the stairs. Arthur showed Merlin the other two rooms first before slowly making their way to the room in question.

Arthur pushed the door open and the door creaked loudly. “When my mother was alive, this was a knitting room for her. I’ve seen photo albums and she used to make these ghastly sweaters.”

Merlin snorted. “My mother does that.”

Arthur looked over his shoulder at him and smiled. When he turned back and looked at the closet, his smile faded. He just stared at it.

Gently, Merlin put his chin on Arthur’s shoulder. He stroked his hand up and down Arthur’s arm. “Are you alright?”

“I still remember what it was like to be in there. It was frightening, but somehow comforting at the same time.” Arthur sighed and turned to Merlin. “You know that wasn’t even the worst memory I have in this house. It wasn’t a happy home. It felt like a mausoleum. My mother loved this place, but I don’t have any happy memories here.”

In that moment, Merlin pictured a young Arthur having to grow up in that house - a house that was almost a shrine to the mother he never got to know. Having to live there with a father still stuck in the past must have been so lonely. He didn’t know what he could do, but he felt like he had to do something. 

He looked down for a moment and suddenly pushed forward and placed a gentle kiss on Arthur’s lips. Arthur put his arm around him and their lips brushed together more insistently.

Arthur sighed into Merlin’s mouth and then pulled back. “What are you doing?”

“I want you to have a happy memory here.” He put his arms around Arthur’s neck.

Arthur pulled back with a slight frown. “Do you think it’d be weird to shag in the room my mother knit sweaters in?”

“Shut up Arthur. You’re killing the mood.” Merlin kissed him again.

Arthur smiled against Merlin’s mouth. As they kissed, their tongues slipping in and out of each other’s mouths, they started to undress each other. Arthur got down on his knees and helped Merlin out of his trousers. He mouthed at Merlin’s clothed erection through his pants. 

Merlin threaded his fingers through Arthur’s hair and whimpered. It didn’t take him long before he was painfully hard. Peeling back Merlin’s trousers, Arthur was almost slapped in the face with Merlin’s erection. He snorted.

Merlin looked down and started to laugh, too. “Be careful down there.”

Arthur softly bit the inside of Merlin thigh and Merlin giggled. He sucked him off slower than the first time. He took his time, tonguing at Merlin’s balls, and feeling the weight of his cock in his hand as he stroked him gradually.

Merlin panted above him. When Arthur took Merlin all the way down to the root, Merlin pushed at his shoulders. “I don’t want to come yet.”

Nodding, Arthur knelt down and scooped Merlin up. He carried him to the bed and then kicked off his trousers and pants. He was about to lean over Merlin when his brow furrowed. “Shit, we don’t have anything.”

Looking up at the ceiling, Merlin bit his lip. His cheeks reddened. “I have some lube and a few condoms in my pocket.”

Arthur cocked his head to the side and grinned down at Merlin.

Covering his face with his hands, Merlin continued to be a very bright shade of red. “I’ve been carrying them around lately.”

Arthur raised an eyebrow. “Feeling cocky, were we?”

Merlin giggled.

Arthur leaned over him and gave him a passionate kiss. “I’m glad.” He hurried over to Merlin’s trousers and took out the lube and the condoms.

The anticipation was killing Merlin. He had thought it was probably silly, but he always hoped and prayed that his first time would be with the man of his dreams. To have that actually be the case filled Merlin with such a giddy feeling. He wanted it to last forever, but knew in all likelihood, it would be over far too soon.

Arthur ripped open the packet of lube with his teeth. He used two fingers to spread it over Merlin’s puckered hole and then slicked up his cock. 

Merlin had never really taken a good look at it before, but he almost gasped at how thick it was. A part of him really wanted to suck Arthur off right then, but as Arthur stuck one finger inside that thought flew out of his brain. He squirmed.

While he was preparing him, Arthur leaned over and took one of Merlin’s nipples in his mouth.

“Yes!” Merlin moaned. He threw his head back.

Arthur flicked the tiny nub back and forth with his tongue. Merlin gripped his neck and brought him up for a filthy kiss that was mostly teeth, tongue, and shared breath.

Taking hold of his cock, Arthur lined up with Merlin’s hole and worked his way in slowly and gently.

Merlin tensed up and Arthur stroked his hand down his arm. Merlin had never felt anything like this before. He never knew such a stinging pain could also feel like the best feeling in the world.

Arthur sucked a bruised into Merlin’s neck. When he was halfway in, Merlin began to relax. He slid his hand down Arthur’s back and to his arse. He scratched his fingers into Arthur’s tight backside.

When he was in fully, Arthur paused. “You feel amazing.”

“You feel amazing, too. I’ve never…” Merlin let slip. He blushed.

Arthur sat up on his forearms. “You’ve never…” Recognition seemed to bloom. “Are you a virgin, Merlin?”

He really didn’t want to get into that right now. It didn’t matter. He smiled and cupped Arthur’s cheek. “Not anymore.”

A slow smile spread over Arthur’s face. He kissed Merlin tenderly. He put his forehead against Merlin’s. At first, he moved slowly and experimentally. It seemed like he was testing Merlin and seeing what brought him the most pleasure. It warmed Merlin’s heart that Arthur was taking care of him in such a way.

Quickly, Merlin discovered he loved it when Arthur shoved in hard and deep.

Gradually, Arthur started to pick up his pace. The harder he went, the louder Merlin moaned. He writhed underneath Arthur. Beads of sweat pooled on his forehead. The intensity built up more and Merlin felt like a coil inside of him was snapping. He thrashed his head back and forth.

“Give it to me, Arthur! Give it to me!” Merlin almost surprised himself with how vocal he was being.

That seemed to push Arthur over the edge. He thrust in with wild abandon, losing all sense of rhythm. After four hard thrusts, he spilled into the condom and called out Merlin’s name.

Panting, he gripped Merlin’s cock. He tugged twice and Merlin spilled into Arthur’s hand with an earth-shaking cry.

When they were both done shuddering, Arthur pulled out. He went to discard the condom and quickly returned to Merlin’s open arms. Merlin held Arthur to his chest. Suddenly, it occurred to Merlin how dark it had gotten in the room since they had started their lovemaking. 

He tried to ease out gently from under Arthur, but Arthur tightened his arms around his waist. “Stay,” Arthur purred in a sleepy voice.

“I won’t be gone long. I’m just going to turn on the light,” Merlin responded.

As if he just realized how dark it was, Arthur stiffened. Merlin made another attempt to leave, but Arthur put his hand on his chest. He looked up into Merlin’s eyes. “It’s alright. I-I don’t need the light. I have you.”

It was one of the sweetest things Arthur had said to him, but Merlin was still hesitant. He threw a quick glance toward the light switch and then back to Arthur. “It’s okay if you still need it.”

Arthur paused but then firmly shook his head. “Just hold me, please.”

The look in Arthur’s eye - scared, but determined - and the tenderness in his voice undid Merlin and he lay back and wrapped his arms tightly around Arthur. Arthur shook a little but started to calm when Merlin kissed his forehead and gently stroked his fingers through his hair.

When Merlin heard Arthur start to softly snore, he smiled and couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I love you.” Sighing, he closed his eyes and drifted off, too.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning, Arthur acted like a teenager getting caught having sex while his parents were away, which he supposed was technically true. Even though the cleaning service would be there in a couple of weeks he insisted on bundling up the sheets and cleaning up the minimal mess they made.

After that, they went back to Arthur’s flat and tried to decide what to do. After the high stress of competing Merlin wanted to keep it light by going out to the cinema and seeing _21 Jump Street._ However, Arthur wanted to go to the British Museum.

“Come on don’t you want to do something to stimulate your brain?” Arthur squeezed Merlin’s knee.

“I happen to find Channing Tatum very much stimulates…” Merlin waggled his eyebrows. “....my brain.

Arthur took a pillow from the couch and hit Merlin directly in his face. Merlin just laughed. As Arthur jumped atop Merlin and playfully pressed the pillow into Merlin’s face, he felt his phone vibrate against his laugh.

He pulled away from Merlin to fish his phone out of his. Merlin took up the pillow fighting as Arthur answered. Arthur’s giggle was cut off when he heard his father’s voice.

“Hello, Arthur.”

Arthur’s smile faded and he towards Merlin he held up his finger. “What is it?”

Uther cleared his throat and ignored Arthur’s clipped tone. “How are you, son?”

Arthur got off the couch and took a few steps away. He couldn’t remember the last time his father had asked him that without it being in some way gymnastics related. It threw Arthur off. “Uh...I’m very well...and busy. Is there something you needed?”

“I was hoping you might be willing to come to the house for a visit,” Uther answered.

Even though Uther wasn’t there to see it, Arthur shook his head. “I can’t. I have plans.”

“With Merlin?”

Arthur paused and cocked his head to the side, trying to gauge his father’s tone. Since he surprisingly didn’t sound annoyed or disgusted Arthur decided to answer. “Yes,” he answered without elaborating.

Uther took in a deep audible breath. “He is welcome to join you.”

Arthur turned around and stared at Merlin with wide eyes. Merlin ducked his head forward and peered up at Arthur with a quizzical expression.

“Uh…” Arthur bit his lip. “I will ask him and I’ll let you know if we make it.” His father didn’t respond. “That’s the best I can do, father.”

“Alright. I won’t push.”

That was a first. “Thank you.” After an awkward silence, Arthur cleared his throat. “Goodbye.” He hung up.

Merlin padded towards him. “What was that about?”

“He wants me to go over to the house and see him. When I told I had plans with you, he said you could come along.”

Merlin jerked his head back. “Really?”

Arthur gave a slow nod. “I was surprised, too.” 

He turned around and shoved his phone in his pocket. He trudged toward the kitchen table in the corner of the room and leaned against the edge of the glass surface. His eyes drifted toward the painting on the opposite wall. It was mostly just a combination of blue and red shapes. In the middle, it looked there was man possibly holding a sword. For some reason looking at it calmed him down.

When he felt Merlin put his arms around his shoulders, he clasped Merlin’s forearm. After a few minutes of just holding each other, Merlin spoke up. “We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to,” Arthur said without hesitation but then he blew out a long breath. “But maybe we should. I know I don’t owe my father anything, but…”

“He’s still your father,” Merlin finished.

Arthur nodded. “I’ve never been very good at ignoring him.” He glanced up at Merlin. “But if you don’t want to go-”

Merlin waved his hands. “It’s up to you.”

Arthur chewed on his bottom lip and then stood up. “Alright, we’ll go. But if he says anything abusive to you-”

“We’ll go.”

Arthur smirked. “I was going to say “give him a swift kick up his arse” but your idea works, too.”

Merlin burst out laughing and slapped Arthur’s arm lightly.

Taking out his phone again, Arthur left his father a quick text message. After Arthur hit send an alarming thought occurred to him. “Do you think he knows what we did?” He asked in a panicked voice.

“Does he have spies watching the house?” 

Arthur scrunched up his face. It’s not exactly something he would put past his father. But, ultimately, he shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”

An hour later they arrived at Uther’s home. Uther stiffly greeted both of them. He directed them to his living room. It was the first time Arthur had really seen him since he blew up at him and, despite the mostly polite conversation, Arthur hadn’t been sure what to expect. His father was being polite, but politeness with his father didn’t last long.

Uther sat in a stiff looking red wingback chair, while Arthur and Merlin sat on the short brown leather couch. Uther cleared his throat several times. “I wanted to apologize for my behavior before. I was very rude to you, Merlin, and that was…uncalled for. I am happy that my son has a friend that defends him so vigorously.”

Arthur flinched at the word “friend.” It’s not that it wasn’t accurate. Merlin was the best friend he’d ever had, but he was so much more than that. Arthur had heard Merlin tell him he loved him yesterday and even though Arthur was sure he was falling in love with Merlin he wasn’t sure how to respond, but the least he could do was show Merlin how serious he was about his commitment and tell his father the truth.

There was a little more to it as well. He needed his father to know. Despite, how horrible Uther could be, he was still Arthur’s only blood relation left, and up until recently, had been the most important person in Arthur’s life.

Arthur gently picked up Merlin’s hand. When he stroked his thumb over the back of Merlin’s hand, Merlin let out a soft gasp. “Merlin’s not just my friend. We’re together now.” Uther looked between the two of them, and at their joined hands, with his eyebrow raised. “If you don’t like it-“

Uther cut him off. “It’s not what I would have liked, or what I have imagined for you, but I’m not surprised. I’ve seen the way you have looked at him. I recognize that look very clearly.”

It was one of those rare times that Uther let his guard down. It usually happened the few times he talked about Ygraine.

“I think it’s why I treated you so horribly, Merlin. Love can be very beautiful, but it can also be a tremendous burden and when it goes wrong it…can tear you apart. I don’t want that for you, Arthur.”

“Would you rather not have loved my mother?” Arthur stared unflinchingly at his father. He knew it was an unfair question, but he needed to know, especially considering what he was feeling for Merlin.

Uther’s eyes widened and he looked stricken. “I would never give up my years with her.”

“She was your greatest love.”

Uther looked down. When Arthur looked closer he was astonished to see his father blinking back tears. As Uther lifted his head and looked into his eyes, Arthur’s breath caught in his throat. “No. That would be you, Arthur.”

Arthur gasped.

“I know I haven’t been the best father, but I do love you, son.” Uther smiled. “You have the very best parts of your mother and none of the worst parts of me.”

Leaning his head down, Arthur took in a few deep breaths. He could feel his knee beginning to shake. Even in his wildest dreams, he never imagined his father saying these types of things. He felt Merlin entwine their fingers.

“To be quite honest, I wasn’t pleased with your attitude during our last conversation.” Uther began.

Clenching his fists, Arthur was about to respond when his father quickly continued.

“However, when I thought about it more I was proud of you for standing up for yourself.”

Arthur blinked at his father. He would never have thought his father would praise him for dressing him down.

“It made me realize how unfair I’ve been.” He hung his head. “I know your mother would have been ashamed of my behavior.”

Arthur almost reached out his hand to his father but pulled back right away. 

Uther faced Arthur again. “My only defense is that I’ve always wanted you to live up to your potential, but the truth is that I pushed you so hard because I thought that you if you had the kind of success your mother never had, if you could have the things she dreamed of for you that it could make up for what I did,” Uther explained.

Arthur’s head jerked up after Uther’s last statement. “What did you do?”

Uther swallowed and rubbed his hands down his thighs. He stood up and went over to the fireplace. He picked up a picture on the mantelpiece and stared at it “Your mother was desperate for a child and we couldn’t conceive. At the time they didn’t have the types of fertility options they have today. So we…turned to magic.”

Arthur watched Uther with a shocked expression. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Merlin’s mouth had dropped open.

“We didn’t know the price she’d have to pay. With that kind of magic, there must be a balance – a life for a life. When we found out she refused to terminate. She loved you with all of her heart from the moment you grew inside of her.”

Standing up, Arthur walked forward in a daze. “That’s why you hate magic.” A sick feeling formed in the pit of his stomach. This explained so much. Slowly, he turned to his father. “You must hate me.”

Uther strode across the room. “I could never hate you.”

“You must. I always knew I was the reason she died, but this…” Arthur’s breath hitched and he fought back tears. “I really am what killed her.”

Uther shook his head. “She would have done it anyway. And I…sometimes I want her back so badly, I wish things could have been different, but when I realized that means you wouldn’t have been born. I couldn’t bear it. You were meant to be born, Arthur.”

Arthur choked back a sob and Uther took a hesitant step forward. Taking a step back, Arthur held up his hand. A part of him was still very angry with his father. But staring into his Uther’s eyes he saw a broken man. There was true sorrow and regret in his eyes - and most of all there was love there. Arthur thought for a moment what his mother would have wanted.

He took a few short steps forward and let his father pull him into a fierce hug. It was one of only a handful of hugs they’d ever shared. As Arthur felt Uther’s tears fall against his neck, he let out years of bottled up emotions and cried with his father.

How long they held onto each other, Arthur wasn’t sure. Byt the time they pulled back from each other, Arthur saw that Merlin was nowhere to be seen. He cleared his throat and rubbed his hand against the back of his neck. He felt a little awkward now and wasn’t sure what to say. There was still a lot that needed to be done to fully repair their relationship.

He walked over to the fireplace and looked at the pictures there. There was a picture of his mother there. That was new. Uther usually kept pictures of her exclusively in his bedroom. Arthur stroked his hand along the silver frame. It was a black and white photo. His mother was outside and her head was thrown back in laughter. Her blond hair was blowing straight behind her. It made Arthur smile.

Picking up the second picture, that his father had been looking at earlier, Arthur saw that it was a shot of him as a toddler. He had on a navy newsboy cap, tiny navy blazer, and matching slacks with a white button down shirt and red tie. Arthur giggled at how formal he looked even at that age.

He looked at both pictures and an overwhelming feeling came over him. It was like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. There was something he had been putting off that he really needed to do.

Putting down the picture, he turned to Uther. “Father, there’s something I need to do.”

A few minutes laters, Arthur found Merlin on the balcony outside his father’s office.

Merlin turned to face him as soon as he stepped out there. “How are you feeling?”

“Blindsided,” he answered as honest as he could. “My father and I still have a lot to discuss.”

Merlin nodded.

“But there’s something I really need to do first and I would really love it if you would come with me and my father.”

Merlin’s brow crinkled, but he had a small smile on his face. He walked over to Arthur and took hold of both of his hands. “Whatever it is, you can count on me.”

Arthur grinned and then the smile slowly faded. “I want to visit my mother’s grave. I want to tell her everything that’s been happening. I haven’t been there in so long and I need to do this now.”

“Of course.” Merlin squeezed his hands.

Arthur picked up Merlin’s hands, and with a warm smile, kissed both of them. He wondered if he would ever stop being surprised at how wonderful Merlin was.

They stopped off at Arthur’s flat and then headed to the cemetery. Uther and Arthur picked out some flowers – orchids which were his mother’s favorite – on the way.

When they got there, Arthur could feel his hands shaking. He slipped his hand into Merlin’s for support. He focused on some of the other headstones as they walked and he tried to put together what he wanted to say.

They reached his mother’s headstone – a thin gray slab of marble with her name carved in black. Uther put down his flowers and touched the top of the headstone. He didn’t say anything else before receding into the background.

Taking a deep breath, Arthur stepped forward. He laid his flowers on the top of her headstone. He crouched down. “I’m sorry I don’t visit more. I never have much to say. ‘I’m practicing. I’m practicing. I’m practicing’ that would get very repetitive.” He let out a shaky laugh. “But, wow, there has been a lot going on recently.”

He glanced over at Merlin. He gestured with his head for Merlin to come closer. Merlin looked around with a sheepish grin before standing next to Arthur.

“I met someone. I know you would have adored him. He’s funny and sweet and so unbelievably supportive. I would never have achieved what I have without him.”

Arthur glanced up at Merlin who was wiping away a tear.

“As far as everything I’ve achieved lately…” He sighed and pulled a gold medal out of his trouser pocket. “I have always wanted to follow in your footsteps. I’ve watched tapes of you performing - especially performing your brilliant vaults. I watched them over and over.” He chuckled. “I even memorized a few.” He bit his lip. “I wanted to make you proud. I know winning a gold medal isn’t everything, but I did it for you.” He momentarily laid the medal on the grass above her grave. “I hope-“ his voice cracked. He took a deep breath. “I hope the fact that I’m happier than I’ve ever been makes you happy. You sacrificed your life for mine and I want you to know I’m not going to waste my life on being sad or living in the past. I’m going to live the life you never got to live…for both of us. I love you, mother.” He turned around and as he stood up he let out a harsh sob.

Merlin was right there and wrapped him in a warm embrace and whispered soothing words to him. Arthur shared a look with his father.

Uther wiped away a tear and mouthed “I love you.”

Arthur held onto Merlin tighter.

He fell asleep that night in Merlin’s arms. He dreamed about his mother. In his dream, he got to properly introduce Merlin to his mother. She smiled at Merlin and asked him to watch over Arthur.

Arthur woke up with tears in his eyes.

The next day was the last day of the Olympics. The closing ceremonies were that night. Merlin went off to spend some time with his mother. Arthur decided to head to the arena and check out some of the last events.

On his way home to get ready for that night he stopped by Gaius’ gym where he had trained for years. Gaius was there in his office working on some paperwork.

Arthur knocked on the door. Gaius smiled when he saw it was Arthur and beckoned him inside. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

Arthur took his sunglasses off. “I realized that I never thanked you.”

Gaius raised an eyebrow. “Thank me for what?”

“For putting Merlin and me together. I know it wasn’t necessarily your intention to get us together romantically, but that’s what happened.” Arthur admitted in a shy voice.

Gaius stood up. “I knew you two complimented each other. I’m pleased it’s worked out so well for both of you.”

Arthur grinned. “You know for a long time I’ve felt alone and like I didn’t really have anyone. Merlin is the first person I’ve really let get close to me. He’s felt like the first real family I’ve had in a long time.” Arthur swallowed. Talking about his feelings still felt odd to him. “But I realized I’ve always had you. You’ve been there time and time again and now because of you, I’m happier than I ever thought I could be. If I was a prat, if I ever am a prat in the future – and we both know I will be.”

They both laughed.

“I want you to know how much you mean to me. You’re family, Gaius.”

Gaius looked touched. He didn’t say anything but he gave Arthur a big hug. Arthur returned it easily.

 

~*~

 

The closing ceremonies, like the opening, was one of the greatest spectacles Merlin had ever seen. Merlin could hardly take it all in. Though in all honesty, the whole thing could have been held at a dingy coffeehouse with karaoke performers, and it still would have been an enjoyable time.

He got to celebrate this whole amazing experience surrounded by so many people he loved, top on that list being Arthur. It still shocked him how much these two weeks had brought to him.

As if on cue, Arthur came up behind him. He put his arms around Merlin. Merlin immediately turned around. “What are you doing?” He pointed to the cameras. “You know there are cameras here.” He knew Arthur wanted to be with him openly, but he didn’t know if Arthur was ready to go that public.

Arthur stared into his eyes. “Does it bother you?”

“No. I-“

Arthur put his hand over Merlin’s mouth. “I don’t care who sees us together. I’m proud to be with you.”

Merlin couldn’t believe how lucky he was. To think of what happened at the opening ceremonies and now here they were together and so happy he could scream.

“Merlin, I heard what you said to me the other night after we were together. You said you loved me.”

With a sharp intake of breath, Merlin looked down at the ground. He wondered why Arthur waited to say anything. Maybe he wanted to gently know he wasn’t there yet.

Arthur gripped his chin with a light touch and brought Merlin’s gaze toward him. “I’m so sorry I didn’t say anything before. I was just afraid of saying it too soon and ruining everything and I was just scared... and a daft sod. Of course, I love you, too. I love you more than you will ever know.”

Merlin smiled so wide he thought his face would crack and fall off.

Arthur put his arms around his neck. He gave Merlin a full, open-mouthed kiss in front of the whole world.

Merlin melted into the kiss and forgot the cameras were there. He forgot their friends were there. He forgot the massive crowd was there. The whole world was just the two of them and he liked it like that.

The only thing that broke them out of it was when they heard wolf whistles and someone tapped Merlin on the shoulder.

Gwaine leered at them. “If you guys want to put on a live show, I’m all for it but for the telly, you might want to tone it down.”

“Shut up, Gwaine,” Merlin and Arthur said in unison and then went back to kissing.


	9. Epilogue

_Four years later_

 

They’re back at the Olympics and it’s almost better than the last time. Arthur would say almost because falling in love with Merlin at the London Olympics will always put it at the top no matter what.

Four years later and he still counted his lucky stars that Gaius had the sense to make Arthur and Merlin stop their childish fighting. If he hadn’t thrown them together, Arthur shuddered to think what he would have missed out on. 

But, despite all of that, Rio was still a very close second.

Team GB had come to defend their championship and they did. They won another team gold. For Arthur, that was good enough. He came into that Olympics with far less pressure on his shoulder. He wasn’t world champion that year and he wasn’t the defending Olympic All-Around champion.

Arthur really only had one goal at the Olympics and it didn’t have anything to do with sports.

So, it almost bowled him over when he actually won the All-Around gold. Merlin had been competing as well and as soon as Arthur won he ran to him and almost knocked him down with the force of his hug. It was a thrilling moment. It was all the more thrilling since Merlin had won the bronze medal

Standing up there on the podium he was surer than ever that he wanted to share this moment with Merlin in more ways than just physically being in the same area. He hoped that what he had planned went off without any issues.

After they finished the anthem, Arthur leapt off the podium and they handed him a microphone.

He walked to the middle of the stage. “May I have everyone’s attention?”

The conversations started to die down and all eyes were on him.

“Could the love of my life come here?” He glanced over at Merlin.

Merlin gestured to himself. “Me?”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “No, the other git I’ve been shagging...Of course you.”

Some of the audience gasped at that, but for the most part, the sound of their laughter filled the arena.

As Merlin walked over to him he shook his head and narrowed his eyes. “That better have been a joke.”

Arthur just shook his head and smiled at the man who’d lit up his life for the past four years. Arthur turned serious and held up the microphone. “Merlin, I walked into the Olympics in London four years ago as a bitter, cynical, lonely _boy_ with a chip on my shoulder the size of London. I went there with one purpose - to win gold for myself. If the team happened to win one as well that was just a convenient offshoot.I didn’t have friends and I didn’t want them. And I treated you abysmally because of something I didn’t understand.” He inwardly winced just thinking about it all. “But then a very, very wise friend,” Arthur turned to look towards the stands where Gaius and the rest of the team were, “almost literally threw us together and my life irrevocably changed.” He gazed into Merlin’s eyes.

His stomach was churning and he felt he had to hold onto the microphone tighter and tighter to keep it from slipping in his sweaty grasp. It wasn’t second thoughts for what he was about to do - he’d never been so sure of anything in his life. It was just looking into Merlin’s ocean blue eyes and seeing all the love he felt reflected back at him that made him have to catch his breath. Even four years later and he was still overwhelmed sometimes by the love he felt for him.

“When the experience was over I walked away a man with something much better than gold medals. I learned how to put others ahead of myself. I learned to think for myself. I learned to stand up for myself. I learned that _Friends_ is the greatest show in the history of the world.”

Merlin snorted and held his stomach as he laughed.

Arthur grinned and as Merlin’s laughter trailed off, he scraped his teeth along his bottom lip and tried to keep his composure. He could feel his throat clogging up. He cleared his throat. “But, most importantly, I found friends and I found love. I fell in love with you beyond all reason and four years later it astonishes me that I love you more every day. You fill my heart.”

At that point Merlin was a mess - his eyes were red, with tears streaming down his face and his nose also running. It didn’t matter to Arthur; to him Merlin still looked heart-stoppingly beautiful.

My life has more purpose now,” Arthur continued. “I wake up thankful to be alive and be the man that you grace with your love. I want to make sure that I have that every day of my life. So…” He got down on one knee and pulled a ring from his jacket pocket.

Merlin’s eyes bulged. He hopped up and down, wiping furiously at his eyes and nose. “Oh, my God!”

Arthur laughed. “So graceful.”

Merlin slapped his shoulder. “Get on with it.”

Arthur looked at Merlin with all the love in his heart shining through his eyes. “Merlin Emrys, will you marry me?”

Merlin put his hands over his mouth and tears spilled from his eyes. He nodded over and over. “You know I will.”

The entire arena erupted in clapping and cheering.

Arthur stood up and placed the ring finger of Merlin’s trembling hand. Merlin pulled him into a kiss. Once again, they didn’t care who was watching. For all Arthur knew, and could feel, in that moment it was just the two of them.

Merlin opened his mouth and Arthur swept his tongue inside and caressed the tip of Merlin’s tongue. Merlin was squeezing him so tight, but Arthur didn’t mind. He could have stayed like that forever.

But he knew they couldn’t for practical reasons, so reluctantly he pulled away from his fiancé. They turned and after sharing a laugh, they waved to the crowd.

If he could he would have married Merlin right there on that spot. One thing he knew for sure was that he was not going to let another four years go by without being married to that man - his best friend, his partner, his lover, his everything. He could not wait for the rest of their lives to begin.


End file.
